Jason Actually Takes Manhattan
by Wife of Jason Voorhees
Summary: This is a revisioning of the 8th movie, where most of my story actually has Jason terrorizing New York. There will be several action sequences where Jason kills people on the Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, and many other landmarks.
1. Prologue

New York City is a city full of life, a cement landscape of towering buildings and neon lights that are so majestic they make one feel insignificant. It's a hurried populous of human beings rushing from here to there with little time to pay heed to their fellow man around them. Not to mention a mugger's paradise, where the drug addicts and the unemployed lurk in the dark alleyways ready to pounce on unaware passers-by and rob them of any valuables.

New York City is a metropolis where you give it all to be successful, and all they'll do is take your life from you without a second thought. Why should they care, when it's everybody for themselves in this city of division.

Its skyscrapers rise up proudly into the sky next to its Statue of Liberty that stands as a breathtaking sight for all newcomers.

Yes, this beaming city has its mixed share of excitement and turmoil all clashed into one. You never know what to expect when you set foot in this world.

But the Big Apple is about to get its wakeup call. They may think they're number one when it comes to terror, yet they're dead wrong. These New Yorkers' hearts will be pumping when they face their biggest match yet.

The ultimate being of horror will soon pay this unsuspecting city a visit. Not to see the sights or care about making it big, but only to destroy every ounce of human flesh that gets in his way.

He will bring Manhattan's population down a few notches and paint over the graffiti with fresh blood.

This man is none other than Jason Voorhees. And he's coming for them very soon.

**(The song, The Darkest Side of the Night, starts playing, showing all the major landmarks of New York that Jason will terrorize, including The Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Gardens, The Empire State Building, Macy's Department Store, and many others.)**

* * *

_How Jason gets awakened in my story is going to be a little different than in the actual movie. Mainly because there are some questions regarding the movie about if the lake is connected to some water mainway that eventually leads to New York. I don't want there to be any questions about how Jason wakes up in the lake and somehow finds himself in another major body of water. _

_So Jason is going to be resurrected by someone else, but will walk over to the water where Jim and Suzie's boat is. In fact, most of my story is going to be different than the movie, except some of the characters will be the same. I hope that my changes will make my story better than the actual movie._

* * *

**(The song eventually fades out to a quiet, May night in Crystal Lake.)**

Two teenagers, both about 16, walked along the sandy path by the lake. Crickets chirped peacefully, and the bright full moon hung high above the trees.

Everything seemed pleasurable and serene, a welcoming sight for the teenagers. Maybe it was because Jason Voorhees was trapped down in the dark lake waters. He had been pulled down and chained by the supposed dead father of his most recent adversary, Tina Shepherd.

But his evil could only be contained for so long. He was down there waiting to be awakened once again. And tonight could be that very night.

The teenage couple headed closer to the dock jutting out into the lake. One of them was wearing a diving suit that was two sizes too big for him. He was being followed by his anxious girlfriend. She was continually making known her disagreement for what her boyfriend was planning.

"Cody, you don't have to do this," she kept repeating to her boyfriend's stubborn ears.

She quickly stopped to shake the sand off her flip-flops before continuing. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was pulled back with a green ribbon. She was a high school junior, and she still wore ribbons like a little girl would.

Cody stopped on the dock to finally respond to her worried nagging.

"Yes I do, Alexis," he said. "Don't you want your boyfriend to be the very first person to find him?"

Cody was talking about what had happened once Tina Shepherd and her boyfriend, Nick, had done after being taken away after Jason had been pulled back into the lake. The authorities had questioned them many times about the death of Nick's cousin, and about all the others that had been killed.

They both stuck to their stories that they had nothing to do with the murders. Tina and Nick instead insisted it was the killer, Jason Voorhees, and that so far he was trapped down in the lake. They demanded that the lake be dragged and his body be found and destroyed.

Of course, the police were very skeptical about these demands. Right now, Tina and Nick were being held in custody until more information could be found out.

Cody's father was one of the investigating officers, and Cody had heard all about it from him. This sparked the teenage reckless curiosity in Cody to go looking for the body of Jason himself and find out if Tina and Nick were telling the truth.

He took one moment to smooth back his mahogany-toned hair before pulling the diving mask onto his face.

"Cody, please, you're being crazy. Trying to find the body of some notorious killer? You don't know what you're doing. Let the police handle it."

Alexis had one last chance to talk Cody out of it.

"I'm telling you; don't do this. It's too dangerous."

She gave him that worried pout. She was hoping that the light blue dress she was wearing, draped over her slender body, would be all that she needed to convince her boyfriend.

But Cody, for some reason, seemed really determined today. This definitely would not end well for him.

"I'll be okay," he assured her in his muffled voice under the mask.

"If the guy's down there, he's supposed to be dead anyway. And just think, if I find him, I'll be famous. Just be ready to give me that underwater camera in case I do."

Alexis knew he was smiling excitedly under the diving mask. She sighed, knowing he was actually going to do it.

"Fine, but be careful, and don't stay down too long."

Cody waved and replied sarcastically, "Yes, mother."

He blew her a kiss before jumping off the dock into the lake. Alexis didn't know that this risky excursion would lead to death far unimaginable that even the most willing of souls could not contemplate.

* * *

The lake waters washed over Cody with a sudden darkness. He found it hard to see anything through his diving mask. The eeriness of the lake surrounded him as he swam to the bottom, chilling him even though the weather was warm.

Cody wished he could have come earlier when it was light, but he had to wait until night when his parents went to sleep. They certainly would not have approved of this.

The shoes of his diving suit hit the bottom, and bubbles swirled up on both sides of him. Cody focused through the murkiness of the water and looked around him. There was a varied assortment of trash scattered about the lake bottom.

Cody shivered, a bit unnerved, when he made out a Crystal Lake sign near him. Camp Blood was painted over it in chilling, red letters.

He stepped along the bottom hurriedly. He knew there was only so much time before he needed to go up for air. He wiped off his goggles in an effort to see more clearly. It didn't help much.

Just when Cody was getting impatient, his foot bumped against a huge clump in the ground. He looked down and saw that there was definitely something buried there. A few fish swam about the mound, giving him glassy looks of unwelcome. One was nibbling at the dirt and soon zipped off with a piece of flesh in its mouth.

Cody murmured a cry of discovery. Whatever was buried there looked big enough to be a body. He rushed forward and started pulling up dirt eagerly. He stopped briefly when he had uncovered a hand from among the mound.

He jerked back at the creepy sight. His eyes widened as he took it in. The hand was composed of rotting, gray flesh, still attached to an arm whose other end was still in the dirt. A feeling was telling Cody to leave, but the excitement, that he was about to find the very body that Tina had talked about, led him to move closer.

He pushed away more clumps of dirt from the arm, more and more, until more of the body was exposed. The more he dug up, the stronger an atmosphere of evil invaded the waters, like Cody was helping it to escape from the lake bottom.

Cody saw a massive body, almost three times the size of his own. It took all of his energy to unearth all of it. Its height appeared to be at least seven feet tall. Raggedy clothes covered the body's bulkiness.

The teenager's body underneath the blue diving suit coursed with uneasiness. But the evil energy around him demanded that he finish digging up the still buried head. He gulped and did as he was told. He scratched at the concealed head near the occasional fish that would swim over and nibble on the body's dead flesh.

Cody soon had uncovered the entire corpse. This time, more fear than excitement struck him when it was completely clear who this was. The head was enlarged and grossly deformed. One eye was drooping lower than the other, obviously having been useless when this man had been alive.

Cody had to turn away from its revolting complexion.

_I knew it. This is not the body of any human, _he thought, fighting off nausea. _This is the body of Jason Voorhees. I have found him._

As much as he was tempted to examine this killer's corpse, disgusting or not, this was still the find he had been seeking, Cody had to go up for air. He would then tell Alexis about his discovery and have her bring him the camera.

He took one last look at the still Jason before bolting back up towards the surface. He was unaware that, while he was swimming away, the malevolent life force, that he should have just let stay asleep, was inwardly detecting his teenage presence.


	2. Awakening

Meanwhile, in a bay a long ways from the lake where Cody was making his discovery, two high school seniors were celebrating their graduation. The bright moonlight illuminated a small boat floating peacefully on the water.

On that boat, wrapped in a romantic embrace were Jim Miller and Suzie Donaldson. A radio in the background was announcing the last class of Lakeview High graduating that month, the very class that Jim and Suzie were a part of. The DJ talked about how that class was about to depart on a trip to New York City on the very next day.

But Jim and Suzie had their own plans of celebrating. Jim stroked Suzie's bare back and smiled happily that he had been able to get his uncle's boat for just the two of them. He and Suzie had been dating for all of their senior year.

"So are you glad that we have a whole future ahead of us with no more school?" Jim asked her smoothly.

Suzie pulled back a little and ran a hand across Jim's face.

"As long as we spend it together, I'm very glad," she said.

A positive serenity filled her voice. She was one of those blissful teenagers who were so eager to be in love, that they couldn't believe anything bad would happen.

Suzie couldn't care less what her mom would be telling her at this moment. Mrs. Donaldson would be freaking out if she knew that Suzie had passed up an opportunity to see New York to screw around with some guy.

Jim felt touched upon hearing Suzie's response. Or maybe it was just the sexual arousal stimulating his body. He had to fight it for a little while longer until he did one more thing first. He did have to take care of his uncle's boat.

"I have to go drop the anchor," he told Suzie. "Be right back."

"Okay," she replied in a romantic daze, smiling after Jim as he left the room.

The giddy Suzie tossed her long, curly hair and let it flow behind her smooth back. She felt like she could dance around the boat.

Too bad for her, that pleasurable feeling would not last long, not with the embodiment of anti-life being disturbed in a body of water several miles away. No matter the distance, it was always too close for any person's safety.

* * *

Cody popped his head out of the lake and pulled up his mask to get some fresh air. He looked along the lake border for Alexis, but did not see her.

_Oh great_, he thought, annoyed. _Did she get scared and leave me here? Did she really think my search was that pointless?_

He floated about in the water, while calling, "Alexis! Where are you?!"

His dark, green eyes sparked with impatience. He really needed that camera. How else was anyone going to believe what he had found?

Finally, Alexis appeared from a rundown cabin several feet away. She looked at him, both frustrated and relieved. She pulled down her blue dress to cover as much of her legs as she could.

"There you are!" Cody yelled. "Where did you go? I need that camera! Come on!"

Alexis stepped hurriedly over and showed that her distaste for being out here was growing even stronger.

"I went in one of those cabins nearby. You didn't expect me to stand out here and get sucked dry by mosquitoes, did you?"

Cody had no time for her whining. He wanted to bask in the glory of his important find.

"Never mind that. Because guess what? I found him."

Alexis stood on the deck a couple of feet away from him. She scratched her legs uncomfortably.

"What are you talking about? You don't honestly mean that body you mentioned?"

Cody nodded, beaming an "I told you so" expression on his face. He was too proud to notice that his arms were starting to get tired from holding his body afloat.

"Yes, I did. I dug up this huge body that probably equals two of you in size. It was covered in rotting flesh, and the arms were as thick as tree trunks. I'm telling you, if you saw it, you would have known that it was the body of Jason Voorhees."

Alexis wrinkled up her nose. Her blue eyes constricted in disgust.

"That is so gross. If you're telling the truth, you better stay away from that thing. It's probably contaminated. Come on, get out of there. I'm getting scared."

Cody laughed at his girlfriend's nervousness. He believed she was overreacting. He couldn't leave now. He would be so famous once he had proof that he had seen the legendary killer's body.

"Don't be a baby. I saw him, and he's dead. Nothing to worry about. Now give me that camera."

He used one of his gloved hands to motion for it. He gave Alexis a look saying, "Right now."

Alexis sighed loudly, reached into her purse, and pulled out the underwater camera.

"Here," she said with irritation.

She stepped closer to the end and tossed the camera at Cody.

Cody quickly swam up and grabbed the camera in one hand. He flinched when he could have sworn a fish was nibbling on his suit.

"Thank you," he responded a bit sarcastically.

The way she had taken so long proved that she didn't deserve any politeness.

He pulled his mask back onto his face and disappeared back under the water before Alexis could say anything more. But he knew, as the water surrounded him once again, that she was scowling from the deck.

_Let her be mad, _he thought. _I've got more important things to do._

* * *

Alexis, indeed was frowning at her boyfriend's reckless actions. Though she hated to admit it, she understood why he was being so determined about this. Cody had been picked on many times by the more popular guys at school.

Their cruelty was always for the most mundane reasons. He would rather work on computers than play sports, so he must be a freak. He hasn't had sex yet, so he must not be a man.

Alexis had been constantly told that she was only going out with him because she felt sorry for him. She kept retorting that that was not the reason, and everyone should mind their own business. But her replies were never mean enough to halter their mocking even one bit.

Finding the remains of the most notorious killer in history was really something that could turn things around for Cody. Having not only stepped foot on Jason's infamous killing ground, but having been close enough to his body, would forever erase Cody's loser status.

Understanding or not, Alexis did not want to be in this place a second later. Cody obviously didn't need her help anymore. And even if he did, it would probably be to ask her for assistance in pulling the body out of the water and taking it home. No way did she want a part of that.

She slung her purse over her slender shoulder and walked off towards the woods. She would wait for him, but in the shelter of the car. There was no way her French background permitted her to be exposed to the wilderness, where there wasn't one bit of luxury.

Alexis disappeared from the shore and into the forest, already grumbling at every branch and bush getting in her way.

* * *

Cody eagerly swam back to the lake bottom in a burst of renewed energy. He was not going to let his girlfriend's displeasure ruin this exciting moment for him.

She would just have to see for herself that all this was going to be worth it.

He stopped next to Jason's body still resting in the dirt. Crowds of fish had gathered and were swimming about, taking bites out of the flesh. Cody pushed them away as he got even closer to the body than he had the first time.

Now, he could more clearly see the ribs protruding out from the behemoth's chest and the deep wounds covering the body. Cody was impressed that this killer had taken so much damage.

He couldn't resist poking his finger into the injuries and watch some kind of ooze trickle out into the water. He figured that was supposed to be blood, but he noticed that it wasn't the normal red color.

All the while, that impending feeling of doom gnawed at the back of the teenager's mind. The dark atmosphere around him warned that he shouldn't be here, to leave this body alone before it was too late.

Cody, like most other juveniles he knew, ignored that sense inside them demanding to be heard. He was not planning on leaving until he had taken as many pictures as possible.

He lifted the camera and flashed the first photo of the whole body. The fish darted off in surprise.

He moved the camera closer to the chest and took a picture of the ribs sticking out.

_Cody Thompson, photographer of the dead_, he praised himself. _This will prove to those guys at school that I'm no wimp. I'll be a legend. And this will be proof that Tina Shepherd's not lying._

A huge fish rushed near him during his proud thoughts and knocked them away, as well as Cody himself. Bubbles, resulting from his cries of shock, burst from underneath his diving mask.

The fish swam off as fast as it had come, leaving the teenage diver in a daze. He fell to the bottom, and the camera dropped from his hands. One of Cody's feet landed into the dirt and remained stuck there, caught on something.

_Stupid fish_, Cody grumbled in his head. _It attacked me! Oh great, where's my camera? I need that camera!_

He tried to scramble away in an attempt to look for it, but his caught foot jerked him to a stop. He was too impatient to bother to look to see what got him caught. He yanked his foot as hard as he could to get free. With one final pull, his foot was loose. But so was the object that his foot was caught on.

It was a segment of electric cable, broken loose by some kind of powerful force. And unfortunately for Cody, his final yank had ignited it. He swam with all his might to escape from the deadly cable. Electricity was already surging from the cable and through the nearby water.

_Oh my God, what did I do?_

His once prideful thoughts were now replaced with fearful scolding at himself.

The frightened teenager burst to the surface, gasping for air. His heart pounded heavily in his chest as the electricity invaded the water below him. Cody was about to swim to shore before the sparks made it up to him, knowing that they would flow pretty fast.

But that's not what happened. The deadly electric current remained near the bottom, centering on one thing in particular. Cody moved his head down so he could see what was going on. All he saw was a concentrated bundle of light focused on one target, a target of about seven feet in height.

* * *

The anxious teenager floating at the top had no idea what he had done. While his flippers were kicking in large circles above, down below, that cable had released its electric bolts right into Jason's body. They jolted every inch of his flesh, particularly coursing through his heart and the gray matter of his brain.

The current shocked every nerve that was responsible for carrying out the killer's agenda back into action. His once still arms and legs now convulsed violently. The fish, scattering every which way to someplace safe, knew one thing. Jason Voorhees was not going to be sleeping peacefully anymore.

This deadliness is being awakened. This inhuman destroyer of life is being resurrected. It would become the final mistake of the careless Cody, or known to Jason simply as, Next Victim.

* * *

The zapping noises were so close in Cody's ears that he felt like he was being electrocuted himself. But he couldn't look away from the body down below, so bright from the electricity that it glowed in the dark. A pang of grief struck him. His vital treasure was being damaged even more than it already was, and there was nothing he could do about it.

It wasn't long before the current ceased, and the body appeared to return back to its normal, rotting form. Cody could no longer hear any sounds indicating the deadly bolts were still in the lake. He immediately dove back down to check on his precious find.

_Please be okay, _Cody hoped. _Please still be intact._

He didn't have to worry about _that._ But little did he know exactly how okay the body was.

When he was about to land on the bottom, he glanced over Jason and saw that no part had been completely destroyed. He breathed a sigh of relief that shot a steady wave towards the decomposing killer.

As Jason began to awake, even before he opened his eye, he already sensed that human life inside his lake. That very same worthless life that was now bothering him. His purpose, to kill every human being in his path, entered back into his mind, and shot open his eye at the same time.

From where Cody was, the darkness prevented him from seeing that the creature was awake. But Jason's keen senses enabled him to see the teenage diver. No time was wasted.

Jason's massive body sprung up from the bottom. He moved mighty fast despite his over 200 pound weight.

Cody shrieked, and his eyes bulged so wide that they could have broken his goggles. He fought to remove his body which was frozen in fear.

Jason lunged at him like a shark, the same predatory instinct driving him forward, crazy for the taste of blood. The teenager couldn't believe that this monster didn't even need to breathe.

He finally broke out of his shocked trance and shot up to the surface just as the killer was about to grab his head between his hands. His head burst forth from the water for the third time that night. The water underneath Cody rumbled in waves as the awakened predator was coming up for him.

Cody, soaking in water and sweat, screamed, "Alexis! Alexis, help!"

A hand grabbed his leg at that moment and pulled him back under. He was forcefully descended down to stare into that grotesque face of Jason Voorhees. Jason appeared to Cody as one huge, shadowy figure, except for that cold, icy eye locking on him.

Jason reached out and clutched Cody's head with both hands. His fingers dug deep into his skin, slowly crushing his skull with inhuman strength. Cody's cries of pain were carried away into the lake's deepness. His goggles shattered along with his skull.

Cody's sunken eyes were revealed. The water all around filled with the redness of his blood. The crimson lake was a sign that he was dead. And his last dying thought had been no surprise.

_What have I done? Why did I come here?_

Unfortunately, it was too late to take any of his mistakes back. Jason released him, and he slowly ascended up to the top. The surface was met with his floating, lifeless body, shattered head staring down into the lake as a grim reminder that if you cross Jason Voorhees, you're as good as dead.

Jason looked up with satisfaction that he had rid himself of that immediate threat, no matter how small. But he knew there were other humans nearby. He sensed it down to his bones. He rose up to the lake's shore. Towering high, he stepped out of the lake and made his way into the woods to continue his path of death.

* * *

Alexis was everything, _but _tuned in to the death of her boyfriend. She was only concerned with getting out of this mess of scratching briars and persistent insects. The branches had slapped her bare legs many times before her blue Camaro came into sight. Her skin had been left with scars that trickled forth pain, along with the occasional droplets of blood.

All the while, she was thinking about how there could be better things to replace this inhospitable forest. A beauty salon quickly came to mind. No doubt being that her goal was to have her very own luxurious, French-style salon where she would be responsible for the true beauty on every customer's face.

If they ever decided to tear these woods down, she would be first in line to watch and make plans for her future salon. With her parents' money, it was going to be very easy for her to make better use out of some of this land.

Her family, the Bijous, had a well-known reputation back in France for sophistication and elegance. Alexis was going to help make sure that it carried on over here near Crystal Lake, hopefully overtaking the notorious reputation that shadowed this forest.

She started to draw near her car in a grumbling state of a ripped dress and scratched legs.

_This is all your fault, Cody,_ she angrily thought._ I hope you're happy._

A raccoon dashed out from some nearby foliage in front of her. She shrieked at the animal, cursing at it in her French language. The raccoon ignored the pathetic, forest-beaten teenager. It scrambled up a tree and disappeared in the branches.

Alexis had backed away against another tree behind her. She exhaled loudly and fought to relax.

_You're almost out of here_, she told herself. _No more will you go with Cody on his silly excursions. _

The snap of a twig, then the sound of heavy footsteps entered her ears. They were stomping closer to where she stood pressed against the tree, like whoever was making them knew already where she was.

"Cody?" she called out. "Is that you?"

There was no answer, but the footsteps grew louder and then suddenly stopped. Alexis looked around, not seeing anyone though.

The presence felt so menacing to her, turning her naturally pale skin even whiter, just before the stalker stepped into her view.

This pampered teenager, whose love for beauty soared beyond anyone else's, wanted to vomit when she saw the creature in front of her. She thought it was supposed to be a man, but reminded her more of a hideous beast. She placed a hand over her mouth to keep the gags from bursting out.

_Oh my God, what is this thing? _Alexis moaned inwardly. _Is this real?_

Alexis wouldn't have to be disgusted much longer however. The monster clearly read the 16-year-old's repulsion for his features. She certainly wasn't the first one and would not be the last, but the hatred for her intensified just like with all the others.

He charged furiously right at her, and her groans changed to blood-curdling screams. His rushing figure reflected in her widened eyes. As he drew closer, her final scream of agony echoed all around and carried up above the trees to be heard for miles.

It wasn't long before a spooky silence remained. There was no doubt among the animal dwellers that this human had met her end.


	3. Suzie and Jim's Last Romance

A bolt of fear broke through Suzie's gleeful mood, striking her into a stiff dreadfulness. She stopped dead in the middle of applying her lipstick to spruce herself up for Jim's return.

She wasn't certain what had caused it, but could have sworn to herself that she had heard a scream. Was it her imagination? If Jim had heard it too, then it couldn't have been.

Suzie set down her lipstick and hurriedly pulled her white blouse back on. As she walked slowly out to the deck, she sensed a new atmosphere on the boat. It had changed from carefree teenage romance to a haunted doom in a matter of seconds.

"Jim?" she called. "Jimmy?"

She glanced down the shadowy deck and found Jim nowhere to be seen. He must have already dropped the anchor. Suzie shivered from the darkness around her. The chirping crickets and moving waves brought her no comfort.

Suzie Donaldson wasn't a big fan of boats, especially one that was out on a secluded bay late at night. It had to be the fear of drowning that she had. She was really uneasy being on the narrow path around the sides of the boat where she could easily slip off if not careful.

If it wasn't for her fondness of Jim, she would be on that cruise to New York. She still couldn't understand why Jim wanted them to pass off on an opportunity to explore the excitement of the largest city in the country.

Suzie had longed to see New York's great Broadway shows and admire the magnificent costumes of the performers. Suzie had done great work making costumes of her own for plays back in high school and wanted to move on to becoming a professional costume designer for the big time theater.

But Jim, of course, had persuaded her once again with his comedic charm that she always fell for. She liked it that he was light-hearted and not bogged down by the seriousness of the hard-core students, Eva Watanabe for example.

There were times, she had to admit, that she got a little irritated with his lack of attention to important matters, like now. He better not have heard the scream and thought nothing of it.

"Stop screwing around, Jim. I mean it," she called, her voice holding a more stern tone.

She moved her way back through the bedroom and down the short hallway to the captain's room. All the while, she stayed a little bit anxious and listening intently for any more screams that certainly would bring Jim running out from wherever he was messing around and comfort her.

A figure did jump out in front of her, but not the one she had been hoping for. The strange form in the dim light was wearing a hockey mask and clutching a knife in one hand. The intruder was aiming his weapon menacingly straight for her stomach.

Suzie tensed up and let out a cry of shock. There wasn't enough time for her to run away. He stabbed the knife into the white blouse over her abdomen. She cried again and looked down, preparing to see her blood pour out and with that, her life as well.

But to her confusion, there was no blood. Her blouse was clean. And what was this? The knife was bending as if made of rubber. What was going on here?

Still afraid, she looked up, expecting whoever this was to plunge the real weapon into her body. She stared at him with bulging eyes of helplessness, her heart pounding hard.

The figure towered before her while retracting the knife into its handle. He reached up and pulled off the mask. A familiar grinning face was revealed. It was Jim, beaming with pride at his newest joke that he played on her.

He tossed the mask aside and said, "Got you good, Suzie."

Suzie's fear changed into a look of annoyance. She was none too impressed with Jim making her think that somebody was going to kill her.

This was supposed to be a romantic weekend. Any of Jim's pranks could ruin the whole thing. Sure she found him amusing at school where his silliness eased the stress of classes, but not here. Not when school was all done with, and a serious future was ahead of them.

She headed away back to the bedroom, making sure Jim felt how unfunny that was.

* * *

Jim praised himself inside for another well-done prank. He always graded himself based on how his jokes had gone more than on how well he did in academics. The only awards he had won in high school were for class clown of the year. Freshman year through senior year, he wore that comedic title proudly.

He figured he had only graduated from high school because the teachers were too annoyed with him to want him around anymore. Many a class had been disrupted because of Jim Miller's screwball antics.

He wasn't exactly good with the girls because most found him to be immature. And his looks couldn't really make up for it either. He had a mop of light, curly hair that fit his reputation as a clown.

He had gotten really lucky to get Suzie and was going to make the most of it. She was one of the few girls that actually laughed at his humor. Sympathy or true entertainment, Jim didn't care. He knew he was going to brag at home that he had finally gotten lucky without using brains or brawn.

But when he saw Suzie march away from him, clearly angry at what he had pulled, Jim returned to a more sincere state. Blowing this weekend was not something he wanted.

"All right, all right," he said after, trying to sound apologetic, "So I'm a major ass. I'm sorry."

Suzie flounced down on the bed. Her flustered face slowly drifted off when Jim sat next to her.

"And you'll never do it again?" she asked seriously.

Never do it again? Was it possible for the class clown of Lakeview High to never again fill the room with his crazy sense of humor? Probably not, but Jim said whatever it took to end the tension.

"I'll never do it again. So, you forgive me?"

Suzie laughed softly and pulled him closer to her. She could never stay mad at Jim for long.

"No," she replied playfully and smiled.

It was time for the romance to commence once again. She lay back on the bed, moaning joyfully as Jim crawled over her and planted kisses on her lips. The sensuality tingling through Suzie's body caused her to forget about the scream she had just heard. If Jim didn't mention it to her, then it must not be that important.

* * *

The newly awakened killer stalked through his wooded territory, searching the darkness for any more human invaders. It hadn't taken long for his senses to return to their sole purpose of hunting and killing his prey, all those that reminded him of the rejection that he had suffered in his past.

Jason was infuriated that his grotesque face was still exposed to the judgment of all humanity. He really hated it that his mask had been broken off by that girl with the powers that made no sense to him. He really hoped that he found another one soon to hide his looks from further humiliation.

He stomped on and on, checking out every inch of the forest for any sign of disturbance from anything that shouldn't have been there.

Jason did not possess the intelligence to be psychic, but as the manifestation of anti-life, it was his job to be aware of all things that contradicted what he was about. The feelings and desires that human beings shared, the greatest and thus most enraging of all to be needed, to fulfill a gratuitous longing to be part of one another sexually, were so out of the realms of anti-life that they had be eradicated.

Jason Voorhees was dead to these desires of intimacy just to receive pure pleasure. They served no meaning to his existence. If such self-fulfilling happenings took place, the spirit of evil alerted him so he could find the wrongdoers and punish them in the most inhuman of ways.

This alertness overtook him now. Humans were partaking in intimacy around here, and he had to kill them. His hands clenched in a boiling rage, his breaths becoming more dark and heavy.

Jason followed the direction his inner psyche told him to go.

The trees broke away, and a bay spread out before him. Jason's icy stare clued in on a boat floating in the center of the water. The small vessel rocked back and forth, appearing to go nowhere. This would make it easy for Jason to butcher the people onboard before they could get to shore for help.

* * *

Like all other teenagers involved in their hormone-driven sexual activity, Jim and Suzie were unaware of the monster sneaking aboard their boat. Suzie was on her back spread out on the bed, groaning with pleasure as Jim kissed her. They had not thrown all their clothes off in a passionate frenzy. They had all the time in the world, or so they thought.

Neither of them could imagine the evil stalking into the captain's room. Jim would never have thought that the mask he had used to scare Suzie was now going to be used by a horror legend.

The Suzie that had recently been frightened by a simple prank would be horrified like she had never known before.

Suzie clutched Jim's head and sighed contentedly as her boyfriend moved about on top of her. Her blissful eyes stared up at the ceiling. She ran her gaze over the tiles, enjoying details of everything she was seeing. During this moment of intimacy, nothing could make her unhappy, at least not yet.

Her eyes searched lower and lower to the stairs leading down into the bedroom. What she found there struck a blow right into her pleasure. Suzie screeched in terror and fought to back away. Jim had his back to the stairs and so was confused about Suzie's reaction. Her bulging eyes stared past him, and he turned around to follow her gaze.

His face changed into the same shocked expression. He couldn't speak. No ounce of his usual humor could take away the horror filling the room.

A towering man, that just barely reached up to the ceiling without bumping it, stood at the bottom of the stairs. The hockey mask that had once belonged to Jim covered his face. The flesh not underneath the dripping, ragged clothes resembled that of a dead corpse. Jim would have choked on the stench emitting from the body if he wasn't overwhelmed by fear.

Jim backed up next to his shrieking girlfriend. He remained stunned into silence, his body too still to even breathe. He couldn't take his eyes off this man that was probably a person, but didn't remind him of a human at all.

The intruder glared at them from underneath the mask. He raised the spear gun he was holding in his hands, aiming it right at the teenage couple. Suzie and Jim were not much older than eighteen years old, and both of them were unsure whether they would live much longer.

Jason pointed the spear gun across the room, aiming it more at Suzie than at Jim. Her cries drew him to want to silence them right away. Her body trembled and breathed harder than the boy sitting next to her. Jason could hear her heart pounding all the way from where he was.

She exhibited more signs of life, the life that must be destroyed, and so she had to die first. Jason shot the spear towards her. Suzie gasped as it stuck into the wall just inches from her head. She scrambled away through the open window near the bed.

Jason grew furious at missing her. His aims had always been excellent at hitting their targets. He walked over to Jim, who seemed paralyzed against the wall. He would have to take it out on this human right in front of him.

Jason shoved the whole spear gun into Jim's abdomen. Screams of agony finally came out of the silent teenager. Jim's hands reached for the bloody weapon inside him that bashed through his inner organs. Jason yanked the spear gun back out with a powerful squishing noise and stared at the dying Jim with a hard, unpitying gaze.

Jim's dripping intestines were wrapped around the gun's end. The bed was soaked with his blood and his other organs falling out of the gaping hole in his abdomen. As he screamed through his last breaths, he shot his hands out at the window, like he was reaching desperately for his Suzie.

Her legs dashed by the window as she ran away from him, leaving him to die. Jim streaked blood across the glass, slowly sliding down the wall. Jason watched him emotionlessly the whole time, not taking his eyes off the dying juvenile until he collapsed in a lifeless heap under the bed.

The killer ripped the spear that was meant for Suzie out of the wall. The sharp implement had her name on it whether she liked it or not.

* * *

Suzie couldn't bear to think of what was happening to Jim in that room. She just had to get out of there. Jim's dying wish would have been for her to be safe, right?

She stopped at the railing of the boat. In order to get as far away from that monster as possible, she would have to jump and swim for shore. Suzie couldn't do that. She knew she would drown before she could get there.

Shivers of fear shot up her bare legs. She had to hide somewhere. She whipped her gaze around and found the closed door of a hatch. That may have been an obvious hiding place, but Suzie was too scared to consider that. She pulled open the door and crawled inside. The hatch wasn't exactly roomy. Even the slender Suzie had to scrunch down to fit her whole body in.

She reached up and closed the door over her, leaving her in darkness.

* * *

If Jason had not sensed the sexual actions of Jim and Suzie on the bay, he would have quickly found the person making herself at home inside one of the abandoned cabins. That definitely would ignite soaring rage in him for anyone thinking that they were free to live on his property. The dweller inside the girl's cabin had no idea how lucky she was.

Joy Sylvia's life had brought her problems of her own that she wasn't able to focus on any kind of luck. Having grown up in New York City should have been enough to speak for itself. Joy couldn't stand the noise and bustle that bombarded her mind. Ever since she was a child, she had felt trapped in the Manhattan borough that she had been born in. Every where she went, there was the usual sensory overload with no purpose to it at all.

Joy knew she belonged somewhere else, somewhere more out of the way of the concrete cell of New York. She loved her family of course and leaving had nothing to do with them. Her parents and her now thirteen-year-old sister had helped her through her childhood in the overwhelming metropolis all the way up to her current age of nineteen years.

But Joy still needed something more. She hoped to find herself out here in the closest patch of wilderness she could find. The abandoned camp proved to be an ideal spot for her to stay out here for awhile and recover from the hurriedness of the city where she went nowhere.

The peace she had been seeking had not arrived yet. And she didn't know that the woods of Crystal Lake were not a place to find any kind of security. Joy tossed and turned in the child bed way too small for her. Pain was ripping through her, but not the pain of herself.

She was having what she thought was a nightmare. The vivid imagery and bloodcurdling screams of teenage victims had to have been more than just a dream. Every surge of agony they suffered, she felt like she was suffering with them, so much that she could have sworn she was going to die as well.

She sat up in the bed, breathing hard with her clothes sticking to her sweaty skin. Joy looked around the dark cabin, searching for some kind of answer in the shadows but finding nothing. She closed her eyes while running over the images still so clear. She murmured the names of whom she had seen killed.

"Cody. Alexis. Jim. Suzie."

Joy couldn't understand how she knew their names when she had never met them before. That dreaded spirit, possibly of a psychic nature, had met her as soon as she had set foot in these woods. Her being psychic sounded ridiculous, though she could not think of another explanation.

She got out of the bed and smoothed down her rumpled pink blouse and white pants. She had not worn her pajamas yet until she felt more at home here. She slowly walked to the cabin door which was blown open by the wind before she could touch it.

The forest outside beckoned her. Her blonde hair shone like a cascade of moonlight. Joy had to find out if her dream was real. From the surroundings she had seen in her visions, if that's what they were, Joy didn't want to call them that just yet, the deaths had occurred in the very woods she had chosen to come to.

She stepped outside and stood on the cabin porch, surveying the lake as holding so many bloody secrets. One secret she soon saw floating among the surface of its deadly waters.

* * *

Jason appeared at the doorway of the deck, holding the spear that he intended on using to end Suzie's life. He walked along the white platform and turned his head every now and then to catch any sight of the hiding teenager. He knew she was still on the boat because he didn't see any splashing movement in the water, indicating she was fighting to escape from him to the shore where he surely would have gotten her anyway.

The senseless teenager thinking she was safe on the boat made it all too easy for him. The pathetic humans could never offer him even the slightest bit of a challenge.

Jason carefully stepped along the narrow pathway to cross to the other side of the boat. He stopped when viewing a closed door leading somewhere. Wherever it led to, Jason did not care, as long as there was a fresh victim on the other side. He knew there was. He could feel her fear surrounding the hatch and exciting his killer instinct.

He opened the door with a steady, creaking sound. Suzie was now exposed and trapped with no way of climbing out without getting near him. Jason lowered the spear slowly down towards her, taking his time like he was savoring her fearful pleas for mercy.

She screamed and kicked about with no effect on Jason whatsoever. The spear continued its descent, stopping only briefly before Suzie's chest, and then cut into her flesh. Jason dug the weapon deeper and twisted her heart screaming with agony in between her ribs. Blood spurted and stained the pure whiteness of her blouse.

Whatever was inside Jason's mind during her heart-wrenching death, in a literal sense, was unclear. All the blood pouring everywhere should never have failed to produce excitement in whatever killer was responsible. Immense satisfaction or twisted happiness was common in perpetrators of violence. But Jason was a murderer that stood alone, not sharing the similar characteristics of criminals that were still made of human flesh and blood.

As Suzie sputtered and choked, Jason looked down at her with that same blank stare as he had with Jim. He held onto the spear until he was sure that the girl was dead. Suzie was still and lifeless, but Jason still heard a slow groan of trailing throughout the boat.

He grew furious that he had not yet extinguished the sparks of teenage life remaining. He turned around and saw a trail of blood that followed the moans of life still hanging on. Jim was pulling himself along the deck, eyes bloodshot and inert, but aimed right at the hatch and at the killer that he knew had taken his Suzie away.

Jason lacked any surprise, only the increased rage that Jim was still alive, even if barely. He stomped over and grabbed his lamenting body. Carrying Jim over to the hatch was a shower of redness and viscera from the gaping wound in his abdomen.

The giant held him above his dead girlfriend and rammed his body down into the spear protruding from the girl's chest. Jim choked blood right onto Suzie's dead face before lying limp. The couple's souls were taken from them in the same spot, where they would rise up to join each other as spirits for all eternity.

Jason took in the deathly silence that he looked forward to after every kill. He slammed the hatch door ever the shish kabob remains of Suzie and Jim. He would leave them floating in darkness along the waters until whoever had the horror of coming along first discovered them.


	4. The SS Lazarus

**There's not a whole lot of action going on in this chapter. I'm mostly introducing more of the characters. Any you don't recognize from the movie are going to be my own characters. I promise that Jason _will_ end up in New York by the end of the next chapter. **

Joy was stunned, even more so than she was already. To experience dreams of murder, leading her to discover the body of one of those victims, was one thing. But to have the dark shadow of evil responsible for those deaths within her line of vision made her heart freeze with impending doom.

She had recently found the floating body of a teenage boy, blood flowing from his diving suit, in the lake's surface. The moon illuminated his lifeless corpse like an eerie spotlight.

_Cody, _that sense inside told her. His was the first name of bloodshed in her dreams. Joy felt the veins so apparent underneath her skin grow cold. The nineteen-year-old had not eaten well since leaving New York. She now doubted that she ever would.

Joy moved away from the lake towards the tall trees. There was this force that she could not shake beckoning her that there was more to see. She could not stop, but kept on going farther into the woods. It was like there was some kind of spirit in control of her body.

Her legs knew where to go, even though the essence of her true self did not. Joy exited the trees where a larger body of water than the lake spread out on the dark horizon. Another spirit, one of monstrosity, collided with her own. She walked along the shoreline until whatever was inside her told her to stop.

When she did, she saw the boat. She saw the deathly redness. And then she saw what no human life should ever see. A bulking figure with a hockey mask cast his inhuman beam across the water directly at her.

Joy froze, her face almost as white as the creature's mask. She knew he saw her. And she didn't need any psychic powers to tell her what he was planning. She had no name, no meaning to him. He wanted her dead; that was it.

"Jason," Joy said aloud, her voice stronger than she felt.

That was before she turned and took off into the darkness.

* * *

It never failed. As soon as one human was dead, another showed up. It was like they were everywhere. And Jason knew they were. No matter how much of that revolting bare flesh he slashed through, his job was still never done. The constant supply of humans waiting to die gave Jason Voorhees his purpose.

It was destiny of an evil nature that caused Tommy Jarvis, Tina Shepherd, and just recently that careless scuba diver to awaken Jason. He was meant to forever walk the earth to fulfill his purpose of terrorizing the human race. If Jason had any feelings about this, one would never know. His one-track mind most likely did not feel the need to contemplate over the reasons for his existence.

It just focused on the next pile of flesh to destroy. Jason's new prey stared at him from the distant shoreline of the bay. There did not seem to be any fear on her face, in fact she had an expression of familiarity with him. This energy flowing from her form on the shore was nothing that Jason could understand, even if he wanted to. Killing her was the only option, no matter how different she may have been.

Jason watched her take off into the forest. The hunt was on. He left Jim and Suzie in their positions of death to pursue this next victim.

* * *

Joy sped off through the black-filled atmosphere, all the while feeling every move of her predator. Everything he did, from moving through the water to lunging out from the depths to continue the pursuit on land, was all clear like one detailed vision. She ran faster and faster with no ability to shake the hold of the monster always being there, even when not in physical sight of her eyes.

She stopped for just a second to wonder over where she should go. Certainly not back to the cabins, for they were part of his territory, and he would surely have the upper hand there. Back to New York, the place that she had come here to escape from? It definitely was ironic that Joy would run away from her home city only to find a setting far more dangerous than she could have imagined.

Joy jerked her head back when she heard a loud snap of a twig. That acute sound of danger fast approaching sent her off flying with no other option. She had to get back to New York. Despite the city's overload on her mind, she would be safe there.

It could have been minutes, or maybe even seconds, before Joy found herself breaking out of the woods. She nearly fell down and dug her heels into the ground to stop herself. She looked around at her new surroundings. The protruding decks into the dark sea of water and boats from small speeders to massive ships told her that she had entered a marina. The air was quiet from the inactivity except for the occasional calls of the late night seagulls.

Joy slowed her formerly dashing pace to a steady walk along the decks. The sea vessels rocking about in the smooth waves made her forget about the danger she was in, if at least for a moment. She stood in the light of the moon before a cruiser that quickly caught her eye. She just made out the name of the ship, the S.S. Lazarus. A banner was hung at the ship's side with the words, _Congratulations, Graduates_, easily seen.

Joy felt a tinge of jealousy. She had graduated from her high school in the borough of Manhattan last year. The city's strict school budget had kept her class from doing anything exciting to celebrate their graduation. From the looks of it, this small town was taking their graduates on a _cruise_.

Joy broke out of her envious haze when another vision warned her that Jason was nearing the edge of the forest and would soon discover her standing out here like an idiot in the open. She didn't think. She just followed her first instinct. She dashed up the deck leading to the S.S. Lazarus.

The closest she got to the ship, the more apparent the space occupying the Lazarus became. The shadows circulating among its many decks and corridors beckoned Joy to hide among them. And that was what she did. She leapt aboard the ship and ran into the first room before her.

The room was one of a bedroom, most likely spruced up for one of the many graduates that the banner was going to welcome soon. Joy was not going to consider what would happen if one of them discovered her. Right now, she had to hide aboard this vast vessel where there was no way her hunter would find her.

Joy did not take a deep breath until she crouched down in the closet and closed the door. The terror gripping her body gradually subsided as she let the ship's enormity swallow her up. It felt like several hours before she finally fell into a deep and troubled sleep.

* * *

Joy was still dozing fitfully when the morning came, and the crowds of new graduates came parading to the S.S. Lazarus. The marina parking lot was filled with cars beeping loudly from the excited teenagers behind their wheels. The feeling of happiness and freedom was in the air.

The teachers that volunteered to help out with the cruise stood near the deck to welcome the approaching seniors. Some stood with clipboards to check in every student as they passed through to the ship. One teacher, in particular, acted like he was the boss over every person around him, including the other teachers. He spoke with a strict, authoritative tone, scolding students if they were late by even five seconds. His demanding demeanor did not stop one group of students from showing up fashionably late.

Tamara Mason parked her red Toyota in a spot that was not for parking, but she didn't need anybody telling _her_ where the most popular girl in Lakeview High should park. She sat for awhile in her leather seat to adjust her makeup in the mirror.

Sitting next to her was her highly intelligent, though somewhat wishy-washy, friend, Eva Watanabe. Eva was considered Tamara's best friend, though Tamara referred to her as more of a sidekick. Wherever Tamara went, Eva followed, seeming to be at the popular girl's beck and call.

Behind Tamara in the backseat, staring at Tamara's long, high-volume, blonde hair, and constantly envying it, was Kayla Dykestra. Kayla was the captain of the cheerleading squad and should have been proud of her appearance, but never thought she was hot enough. Especially when she and Tamara compared looks in the locker room after gym class.

Tamara always told her that blonde was better than the chocolate brown hair that Kayla had. And that her smooth, skinny body definitely was more of a knockout than the scars, if only a few, that Kayla had gotten from the infrequent cheerleading accidents. The two were competitors, that was for sure. Kayla knew it wasn't going to end even after they graduated. She grabbed her suitcase of belongings next to her and jumped out of the car before Tamara was finished.

"Thanks for the ride, Tamara," Tamara muttered sarcastically in response to Kayla's leaving.

She clamped shut her powder kit and motioned to Eva that she was done. The loyal friend did not move until Tamara got out of the car and began walking with her head held high. Eva hurried up next to her, carrying both of their bags, and smiled slightly at the joyful surroundings.

"I'm looking forward to this cruise to New York. Are you, Tamara?" she asked of her friend.

Tamara didn't look at her, but instead kept her seductive gaze on the many boys walking aboard the ship. She flipped her hair back and let it flow down her red, cardigan shirt.

"I suppose so," she answered Eva without sounding too excited. "Though I know my parents would let me go whenever I want to. But I'm sure this time will be enjoyable, especially if I get discovered."

Tamara was going to be a model or an actress, or maybe both. She knew she had the body and talent for either one. Her parents had kept telling her that ever since she was six.

She brushed past the teachers without stopping. They knew who she was and that she had arrived. Eva quickly stopped and said hello, as if trying to apologize for Tamara's self-important behavior.

* * *

Joy awakened to spontaneous voices and party music blaring in the background. Her eyes snapped open, and she bolted upward back into the fearful state that she had fallen asleep in.

Her first thought was, _Oh my God, has he found me?!_

Her blood froze while she glanced around and then realized that she was still safe. No monster had flung open the door ready to kill her just for existing. She sat down to calm herself yet again. Her long hair and clothes were a rumpled mess.

Joy remembered how she had gotten here, how her senses had led her to _him_, only to result in the run for her life aboard this dark ship, which wasn't so dark anymore. Bright light invaded the closet and highlighted exactly how bare it was.

She crawled over to the door and pressed her ear against the wood. The music reverberated around the walls, even though its source seemed to be a distance away from the room.

_The graduates_, Joy recalled. _They're supposed to be on this ship for their graduation._

What was she to do? She was a stowaway on a cruise that she was not supposed to be involved in. At least she would be safe among all these people, but they were people that would easily spot her and tell her that she was not part of their class.

A door opened outside the closet, and footsteps entered the room. Joy's heart stopped in her throat. This was probably going to be the reaction to every noise she heard until the day she died.

A girl most likely near her age spoke gently to someone on the other side of the door.

"What do you think of our stateroom, Toby?"

Joy exhaled softly, and her heart relaxed back into her chest. It was only one of the graduates. Two of them maybe? She waited for this Toby fellow to respond, but he never did.

She felt so helpless not knowing what was going on. Joy cupped her golden hair behind one of her ears and continued to listen. The unknown person moved around for awhile and, to Joy's unpleasant surprise, stopped right outside the closet.

Joy closed her eyes, picturing in her mind the slow motion of the girl's hand reaching for the knob, just seconds away from discovering her. To Joy's relief, a stern, fatherly sounding voice called to the girl from outside the room.

"Rennie? Where are you?"

Rennie. A name to go with the still unknown face of the graduate whose room Joy had invaded. Joy listened to Rennie move away from the door. Her footsteps became fainter as she left the room. Joy could now find a way to sneak out without Rennie spotting her.

_But what about that Toby that she had been talking too? Was he still here? _

Joy had to find out. Ever so quietly, she pushed the closet door open a crack. She slid her head out just enough to see that she didn't have to worry if Toby saw her. Toby was none other than a Border collie spread out on the bed. He turned his head to look at her, whimpering softy at this stranger.

"Shhh," Joy put a finger to her lips and smiled. "It's okay. I'm going. Don't tell your friend I was here."

She stood up and kept her back against the wall. Toby continued to stare at Joy moving along inch by inch to the door.

_He must think I'm a mess,_ Joy thought, almost embarrassed to think that a dog was judging her.

She waved at Toby and quickly slipped out into the hall. There was nobody out here, though the blasting music indicated the activity of several happy teenagers nearby. That was good for Joy. Hopefully, most of them were already partying, and all she had to do was stay away from the music to avoid beeing seen.

The hallways seemed endless to the worried girl that had no idea where she was going. She hurried past one room after the other. Fresh air entered her lungs in a sudden breeze after Joy found her way out of the halls and into a small pantry connected to what appeared to be a massive kitchen. Joy took a brief, awe-stricken glance into the vast kitchen containing aisles lined with steel counters and cupboards. Walking through the long halls while rarely seeing anybody else, and now finding a food area, almost twice the length of her home back in New York, amazed her at the true size of the ship.

She slowly made her way closer to the deck stretched out in front of the open doorway. The warm air tempted her, but she couldn't be reckless and run out there only to be exposed in front of the teenagers enjoying their freedom out in the sun. Joy poked her head out and looked one way and then the other.

A female graduate, looking like a young rock star, was screeching away at her electric guitar far down on one side. Her shoulder-length, black hair swirled about her head as she played for everyone out on the deck. It seemed that way. Other graduates playing shuffleboard and shooting targets in the air moved about in tune to the music.

They were so busy engrossed in having fun that hopefully none of them would see her or at least not even care. Joy took a deep breath and walked out of the ship's interior. She moved about quickly around the corner to a quieter spot on the deck. Her goal was to get off this ship before she got in trouble and head back home.

The ship's horn blasted through the air and sent the graduates into bursts of cheers. Joy instead groaned in dismay. She ran closer to the railing and spotted the decks of the marina slowly growing farther away.

"No!" Joy cried to herself, not caring if anybody heard her.

She wanted to jump off and swim to shore, but her inability to swim threw that idea out the window. She furiously slammed her hands onto the railing. The steel bashed against her pale, stress-worn flesh, and blood dripped off into the water so far below. Joy turned away and continued to groan.

What was she to do now? She was a permanent, uninvited guest with strangers going who knows where. Joy didn't notice the teenager coming out of the captain's quarters until he looked at her.

He was very cute. Joy couldn't help but see that even with her disappointed state. His light, brown hair had a distinct wave to it, and his eyes were so soft that it would have been easy for her to stare into them, if she didn't have any problems going on. He had a build that showed he was strong without being large enough to cause intimidation.

Joy dreaded how he was going to react to her being there. To her relief and surprise, he smiled thinly at her and continued his walk down the deck. Joy watched him curiosly. She could tell that he was upset about something even if he tried not to show it. At least Joy wasn't the _only_ one in a depressed mood.


	5. Girl Overboard

**To let you know, I originally had Jason arrive in New York at the end of Chapter 4, but the chapter was just so long that I had to divide it in two. I did make up for it by publishing the two chapters on the same day, so you didn't have to wait to see Jason come to New York. **

**After these two chapters, it will be awhile before I start publishing the New York chapters. I do have college starting again next week, plus I haven't figured out yet the sequence of events after Chapter 5. I know readers are probably excited about reading the majority of the story actually having Jason take Manhattan. I promise I won't forget to write when I have free time. **

**Enjoy, my loyal readers.**

The partying of the graduates continued on into the night. Joy could not participate in any way, no matter how much she was tempted. She spent most of the time in the more secluded areas of the ship, sometimes finding closets to be the only suitable places to hide. A peek outside of one closet showed her that it was getting dark. The music had stopped, and the teenagers were now engaging in more relaxing activities.

Joy crept out onto the deck, illuminated just enough for people to see where they were going. She wished she could have worn darker clothes to blend in more. But all her belongings were left behind in that cabin back in Crystal Lake and, even if she wasn't stuck on a ship, there was no way that she was going back: _Ever._

The warm, night breeze blew throughout her hair. The lapping of the waves at the ship sounded so calming. Joy looked about and didn't find anybody near where she was. She stopped in one of the dim lights, taking a moment to look at the bracelet around her slender wrist. She and her sister, Faith, had given each other a bracelet as signs of their sisterly bond. Joy's was a shining gold; Faith's was a sparkling silver.

The two Sylvia sisters were very close, standing by each other, not only for survival in the big city, but to keep their personal friendship strong. Faith was probably in bed right now, crying over Joy's leaving, and Joy didn't blame her one bit. Joy planned on making it right when she got back home.

Joy opened one of the charms hanging from the bracelet. Inside it was a picture of her, Faith, and their rambunctious, very brave, Pomeranian, Martika. Joy missed that little, tan ball of fluff almost as much as she missed Faith. She smiled at the picture, took a step back, and crunched her foot on a stray soda can. The crushing of the can echoed in Joy's ears much louder than the sound actually was. Joy snapped her head up and gasped.

Her fear squeezed her heart and wouldn't let go. There were no graduates in front of her, just something far worse. Jason stood as a seven-foot tall figure in the deck lights, emotionless stare locked on Joy. A shadowy darkness enshrouded him, overtaking the light quite easily. At first, he did not move. All of him was like stone, including whatever inside him that was supposed to be his heart.

"No," Joy murmured very softly in a whimpering voice.

Jason raised a blood stained machete and let the weapon fly straight at Joy's head. Joy screamed in horror that sent shearing pain through her lungs. A bolting force knocked her backwards. She landed hard on the ship deck, staring up at the pitch black sky above her. She touched her head and pulled her hand back to see blood dripping from her palm. She screamed again, not realizing that her screams were entering the ears of certain graduates.

Joy scrambled up, still seeing the blood that was now staining her white jeans. She sprinted down the deck. The ship's railing whizzed by on one side and the cabins on the other.

Two startled teenagers were in her way. One was a girl with long, chocolate brown hair that was wearing her cheerleading uniform. The other was a boy, most likely her boyfriend by the sign that they had been holding hands before Joy barreled in between them. The cheerleader cried out in a way that suggested that she felt violated. The fleeing Joy ignored her and kept running.

* * *

"What the hell was her problem?!" Kayla yelled.

The girl that had pushed in between them was long gone for the offended cheerleading captain to confront her. She looked at where the girl had come from. There was nothing there, except for the long, empty deck stretching off into the darkness.

Her boyfriend of almost a year, Gabe Patterson, saw nothing as well. Unlike Kayla, he wasn't upset by the interruption. The cheerleader was known to be a drama queen. He instead was a calmer teenager whose specialty was fixing any and everything. It was rare to ever hear Gabe yell.

"It's okay, Kayla," he told her gently. "She probably got in a fight or something."

Kayla smoothed out her cheerleading uniform so clearly as if to let Gabe know how she felt about her precious clothes getting ruffled.

"A fight?!" she said rather loudly. "The girl was screaming like a freak! How could she bombard me like that?!"

Gabe shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe she was practicing being an actress. You know how Tamara likes to perfect her acting skills by making other girls practice with her. She and that girl were probably busy learning how to show off for New York."

Kayla huffed and grabbed Gabe's hand. That haughty look of being offended was still on her face.

"Tamara told that girl to bump into me on purpose, I bet. That stuck-up prom queen is always out to get me."

Gabe sighed and held her hand as they continued walking. He really hoped that Kayla and Tamara would stay away from each other when they made it to New York.

* * *

Unknown to Kayla, Tamara had nothing to do with Joy's smacking into them. The prom queen had no idea that there was even a stowaway onboard. She and Eva were on the other side of the ship, just inside the interior looking out at a person standing by herself on the deck.

"Look at that space cadet," Tamara murmured to her friend. "She thinks she can do what she wants just because her uncle is one of the teachers?"

She was referring to Rennie Wickham, the eighteen-year-old niece of Charles McCulloch who was the Lakeview High biology and chemistry teacher. Charles became Rennie's guardian after the teenager's parents had died in a car crash back when Rennie was in elementary school.

Eva didn't really share Tamara's perspective on Rennie. In high school, Rennie was often one of Eva's classmates in the more advanced classes. English was one that Eva and everyone else there knew that Rennie excelled in. Despite her exceptional English and writing ability, Eva never heard Rennie brag even once. In fact, it was known that Rennie kept more to herself for reasons that nobody could figure out.

But instead of pointing this out to Tamara, the Chinese Honor student simply nodded her head. Eva knew how to perform every difficult math calculation in advanced algebra and win the science fair every year that she was in school, but knowing how to disagree with Tamara was something that she had never learned.

Tamara turned to Eva with a scheming smile.

"Let's push her into the water."

Eva didn't want to believe that she had heard Tamara say that. She returned a look of disbelief.

"What?"

"She saw us doing drugs and totally told on us. You could have lost your science scholarship, Eva. Does that sound fair to you?"

To Eva, it didn't sound fair. She had worked hard on that scholarship. But did they have proof that Rennie had told on them? _She_ didn't think so.

"Maybe Rennie didn't tell on us. Mr. McCulloch could have found us on his own."

Tamara was getting annoyed with Eva not instantly taking her side. They may have been friends, but sometimes Tamara had to push her a little to make them see things eye to eye.

"Look, Eva. You don't have to stand up for her just because everyone says she's almost as smart as you are. She's not your friend. She's your enemy. Do you really think that it was a coincidence that Mr. McCulloch found us right after Rennie saw what we were doing? Trust me, she wanted to sabotage you."

Tamara slowly slipped out onto the deck before Eva could answer. She looked back and motioned for the girl to follow. Eva reluctantly stepped out after her. Tamara whispered so Rennie, still with her back to them, could not hear.

"Do you want the honors?"

Eva shook her head without another thought. She was no good at being a bully. That was Tamara's specialty. Tamara frowned like Eva had betrayed her.

"Fine. I'll do it. You can be such a lightweight sometimes, Eva."

Tamara moved forward until she felt that she was close enough to Rennie. A girl appeared out of nowhere just as Tamara pushed her hands out. The startled prom queen couldn't stop and react. Instead of Rennie falling over the deck, Tamara pushed this new girl that had come running.

Tamara's cerulean eyes dilated in surprise. Eva gasped behind her, and Rennie turned around and cried out about what was going on. None of them were quick to stop the girl from flying over the edge and splashing into the water down below.

"Tamara," Rennie shouted. "What did you do?!"

* * *

Joy's screams ended in stunned silence when the girl pushed her. Even when she felt her body fall through the air toward the dark depths, she could not make a sound. The splash erupted like a volcano around her head. The water surrounded her as she sunk below. The girl was terrified inside beyond belief. She scrambled apprehensively for the surface.

When she did manage to thrust her head above water, the ship was not as close as she had hoped. Either the ship was moving faster than she had thought or the waves were stronger than they had looked from on the deck. Joy screamed her lungs out for help.

"Help me! Somebody help me!"

Her cries carried out over the water. It was unclear whether they were loud enough for anybody on the ship to hear her. The waves beat against her and sent her throat choking from the water entering her mouth. Joy's body bumped against something hard. Her hands grabbed onto a buoy floating on the surface.

She fought to climb up onto it. The slipperiness from the water soaking her flesh and pink shirt made it difficult. Joy fell back into the water a few times before being able to pull her body onto the buoy. She looked as best she could at the ship. It didn't seem to have stopped. Joy groaned in dismay. She was going to drown out here; she knew it. She stared off in another direction and didn't catch the lifeboat making its way toward her.

* * *

Rennie burst into the room on the ship set aside as the teacher's lounge. The five Lakeview High teachers assigned for the cruise were all in there, including her uncle, who addressed her before any of them.

"Rennie, what is going on? You know this room is for teachers only."

Rennie tried to stop breathing so hard. She was frantic for that girl's life. That girl didn't know how to swim. Rennie wasn't sure how she knew that; she just did.

"Uncle Charles, a girl was pushed overboard and is fighting to stay afloat. We have to help her! She's going to drown!"

Exclamations of shock from the other teachers filled the room. The English teacher, Colleen Van Duesen, hurried up next to Charles. Colleen and Charles were complete opposites, and this was highlighted when they stood next to each other. It wasn't just their looks either, though Colleen's bright, curly hair was a sign of her warm pleasantness. She was the motherly figure of the teachers, always there to be a kind shoulder to lean on.

Charles McCulloch, on the other hand, was a strict, uptight man who would give anyone a good scolding if they so much as looked at him the wrong way. Fun was definitely _not_ in his vocabulary. Neither was gentle, ecstatic, or understanding. One look at his middle-aged face with evidence of rarely smiling really proved this point. It was a shock that he was even on this cruise. Most students figured that he was only here just so he had something else besides the school to take charge of.

"Oh my God, Rennie. Who was it?" Colleen said anxiously.

She had already taken hold of Rennie's hand and was ready for the panicked teenager to take her out to the scene. The other teachers were scrambling to join them. Charles was the only one who wasn't in a hurry to help the girl.

"Now wait a minute here!" the biology teacher demanded in his usual stern voice. "We can't stop this ship for a student who got a little drunk and fell off the deck! By the time the ship can stop, we'll be way behind schedule!"

Colleen turned her head back to answer the harsh Charles. Her brown eyes showed firm humanity for the unknown girl.

"Then we'll use a lifeboat," she responded before disappearing out of the room with Rennie and the other teachers.

* * *

Breathing heavily, Joy observed the horizon, and her body stiffened. It may have been far, but she saw him again. Out in the distance, there was land on one side where the coast stretched for miles. Hills of sand lined the shoreline and resembled dark, eerie dunes. It was the perfect setting for the wreckage that Joy saw. A ship, maybe one for fishing or shipping items, was run aground on the sand. Almost the whole vessel had careened out of the water.

Joy's sight took in that same monster, the one who had caused the unfortunate ship to crash onto its final resting place. Voorhees was standing on the ship's stern scanning the rolling waves like there was something out there that he should find. The helpless Joy clutching onto the buoy froze and hoped that she was too far out for him to see her.

She moved her head just enough to examine the rest of the aground ship. Her breath caught at the body hanging over one side of the railing. A man, dead as night, with his blood dripping across the deck and pattering into the sand. Spotting the dead human started a chain of flashbacks in Joy's mind.

While looking for Joy, Jason had climbed aboard a ship sending supplies to New York. Within a short period, he had annihilated the entire crew with whatever he found handy. Gore and viscera of the murdering of every crew member blanketed Joy's apparitions. Joy pounded herself on the buoy and demanded for them to stop. She closed her eyes and told herself that they weren't real.

Opening her eyes again, Joy saw that Jason had moved off the ship and onto the sand. He headed for the water like an evil force on a mission. He had spotted her floating out on the water, totally vulnerable. That was the only explanation for the relentlessness in his steps. Joy shook her head countless times.

"No! _No!_" she burst out in waves of horror.

She kept on screaming, "No", while clambering pitifully on the buoy, trying to get away, though going nowhere. A pair of hands grabbed her from behind. Joy lashed out furiously at the figure behind her, wailing what she thought were going to be her death throes. A swift kick from her leg came into contact with the flesh of the person.

"Hey!" a startled voice shouted. "Take it easy! We're not going to hurt you."

Joy did not stop fighting. Her overwhelming fear was too strong. It took another set of hands to pull her off the buoy and into a lifeboat. The girl's bulging pupils acknowledged the sight of two people in the small boat with her. One was a woman, probably in her thirties, with dark blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had an oar in hand and was paddling the boat with much strength to get back to the Lazarus.

The second person, leaning over her and emanating great concern, looked somewhat familiar to her. He was a teenager about her age that had chestnut colored hair and amiable, brown eyes. He took off his jacket and spread it over her.

"It's okay. You're going to be all right," he kept assuring her.

"He's in the water! He's going to get us! We've got to get out of here!" Joy cried to the young man.

As alarmed as she was, Joy lay under the jacket and listened to the two talk. The teenager stayed near her while grabbing an oar and helping the woman make it back to the ship.

"The poor girl's terrified, Ms. Diamond," he said worriedly. "Do you see who she's talking about?"

Ms. Diamond looked around, keeping her arms stroking the paddle at a strenuous pace. The slow moving Lazarus was getting nearer by the second. She saw the crowds of graduates on the decks watching their rescue of Joy.

"No, Sean, I don't," she replied back. "There's no movement in the water except for the waves. The girl just fell off a ship. She's obviously in a lot of panic and doesn't know what she's saying."

She stopped the lifeboat near the ship's mighty hull. Peering up at the crowds, she looked at a group in particular and shouted in a voice that carried all the way up to them.

"Don't just stand there!" Ms. Diamond ordered. "Get ready to lift us up! I shouldn't have to rescue this poor girl by myself!"

Sean shook his head, not about to point out that he had helped too. She was not in a mood to listen, if she ever was. He looked at Joy who was trembling hard and returning his gaze with water dripping down her face. He whispered calmly to her.

"We're almost there. You're safe now."

From viewing her response, Sean didn't think that she believed him.


	6. Jason Arrives

Every teenager that was not either passed out exhausted from partying or hidden in their stateroom was out witnessing the rescue taking place on the waters. Colleen Van Duesen had sent the girl's gym teacher and cheerleading coach, Josie Diamond, and graduate, Sean Robertson, out to save the teenager stranded on the buoy. The two were the most experienced out of anyone on the ship with water. Josie Diamond spent summers scuba diving and teaching swimming lessons. Sean was the son of the well-known captain of the Lazarus, and his father taught him everything about the sea and boats, whether Sean liked it or not.

A group of the male graduates pulled up the lifeboat to the height of the deck. Voices asking each other who had fallen sounded among the ones watching. Tamara and Eva hadn't moved from that particular portion of the ship. Tamara actually stood in the middle of the group with no worry that she had done anything wrong.

"What if we get in trouble?" Eva whispered to Tamara.

Ms. Tamara Mason had her arms folded and her head tossed. She moved closer to Eva and away from some of the students that she didn't want to be seen standing near.

"Don't worry," she replied confidently. "The only real witness is that Wickham girl. And nobody's going to believe her over me. Besides, it was just an accident. Right?"

Eva reluctantly nodded. She didn't want to cause any more trouble. What's done was done. She did hurry over to the lifeboat now being placed on the deck, mostly by the stronger boxers and football players of the school. The ones closest to the boat murmured in concern and shock at the frightened, wet girl under the jacket.

"Give her some room!" Colleen took charge much to Mr. McCulloch's dislike.

He pushed his way in toward the three getting off the lifeboat. Sean had an arm around the girl and was helping her steadily walk. Ms. Diamond was already giving orders for the young men to put the lifeboat away. Colleen asked the rescued girl if she was all right. Charles interrupted before the girl could give any kind of answer.

"What is your name, young lady? How could you be so reckless as to put yourself in a position to fall off this ship? Do you have any sense?"

The girl turned her head away from him in shyness. Colleen went to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Charles, leave the poor girl alone. She's been through enough. Someone can help her go dry off and get some new clothes, and then we can find out more."

She scanned the crowd for any volunteers. The group of cheerleaders, headed by Kayla, instantly backed off in disgust. Ms. Diamond's squad was never quick to help anyone they didn't know, especially if it involved getting wet or dirty. Eva was about to raise her hand, but a look from Tamara quickly changed her mind. Rennie finally came forward, slightly shaking her head at the lack of concern from her fellow graduates. The girl needed help, whether or not she was a stranger, and Rennie already had something in common with the newcomer.

"I'll help her, Ms. Van Duesen," Rennie volunteered, ignoring the grumbling among the cheerleaders and Tamara.

"Thank you, Rennie," Colleen smiled.

The girl eyed Rennie for a presence of trust before taking her hand. Rennie led her in the direction of the staterooms, while having to hear her uncle's orders behind her.

"Let me know when she's changed so I can talk to her, Rennie. You hear me?"

Rennie sighed and nodded. She was used to her uncle's use of orders. Mr. McCulloch was never known for requests. But there was always a lingering aggravation where his demands were mostly about suiting himself instead of anyone else.

"This way," Rennie kindly told the teenager.

* * *

Joy felt more at ease with this helpful girl than she had received from any of the other graduates that she had been around. There had been a fast flicker of similarity when Joy first saw her. Why; exactly, was not yet known. But the girl's caring personality had made it easy for Joy to shrug off the glances, not all warm, from the graduates watching her. Joy Sylvia now considered herself an outcast more than ever after being discovered. She was a stranger to all, except for the girl now leading her into the stateroom with a border collie.

The dog ran to meet them and looked at Joy welcomingly. The girl then made a point of introducing both of them.

"This is my dog, Toby. It's okay to pet him. He's very friendly."

She turned to Joy and put her hand out for Joy to shake.

"I'm Rennie. What's your name?"

Joy reached out a hand from under the jacket still on her and shook Rennie's hand. Rennie? Had she heard that name before? Brushing back her soaked hair, Joy took a look around the room and then at Toby sniffing her legs. She soon remembered that this was the room that she had hidden in right after running aboard the ship. Joy contemplated telling her this, but felt that it wasn't important. She managed a smile while shaking Rennie's hand.

"My name is Joy. Joy Sylvia," she answered, stammering more than she had intended.

Joy was getting embarrassed all wet and shivering next to this nice-looking girl whose long, auburn hair with perfect curls really complimented her face. Joy noticed a glimmer of gentleness in Rennie's green eyes, though there was a tinge of strength behind them. Joy was good at reading people. In New York, this skill aided your survival.

"I'm sorry, Joy. You probably want to get warm and changed before we get to know each other. Don't you? You're welcome to take a nice, hot shower in the bathroom over there, and I'll get you some of my clothes to borrow. Does that sound good?"

Joy was able to smile even more this time. She slid off the jacket and held it in her hands with a look of not knowing what to do with it. She allowed Rennie to take it from her.

"That's Sean's jacket. I'll give it back to him later," Rennie said.

Joy glanced down at her white jeans, which, after all the abuse they went through, weren't even close to the pure color they used to be. She exhaled a shocked breath. The blood that was earlier soaking the fabric was still there. The redness stood out clearly in her vision like nothing at all had happened to it. How was it still there? And how come nobody else had noticed it?

Rennie's startled gasp broke into her wondering thoughts.

"How did that happen to you?" she asked, very troubled.

Joy and Rennie exchanged views of uneasiness at the bloody jeans. Even Toby still at Joy's feet whimpered that something was wrong. Rennie then resumed her nurturing role and led Joy towards the bathroom.

"Come on. You can go wash that blood off you in the shower. I'll leave you a towel and some clothes."

Joy nodded and stopped at the bathroom door. She turned to Rennie, looking worried.

"And then what?" she wondered aloud with an evident whimper.

Joy was unsure of what was going to happen to her eventually. The majority of everybody she saw didn't seem to be happy about her presence. What if the ship was going somewhere completely unfamiliar to her, and they just dumped her off there to fend for herself?

Rennie appeared to read Joy's apprehensive thoughts. She put a reassuring hand on Joy's shoulder just like Colleen had done.

"Then you can stay with me in my room until we get there if you'd like. Toby and I would like the company."

Pausing for a brief moment, Rennie continued. "I'm not big on partying with the others. Unless you would like to be with me, and we can share our personal experiences together," she added with a friendly smile.

Joy felt more comfortable by the second. She nodded that it was all right with her. She attempted not to reveal the gnawing inside her that she could go through Hell again and bring Rennie down with her. Concealed to Joy, Rennie was secretly being tortured over the same thing.

* * *

Colleen and Charles were breaking up the crowds of students in rather different ways. Colleen calmly told them that everything was okay, and they could go back to what they were doing. Charles, on the other hand, ordered them more than what was necessary. The more rebellious male graduates, including Julius Gaw and his fellow boxers, didn't move until one of the female teachers asked them to.

A little while after the spot had cleared out a bit, a group of graduates now gathered at the door of the captain's quarters. Sean was in there with his father and the ship's first mate, Matthew Carlson. A few of the girls looking inside complimented the handsome Sean Robertson moving about busily, trying to keep up with what his father wanted.

Sean was about to double check the light bulb stations, when his father told him to look at the radar and find out how close they were to their destination. The teenager gave an annoyed sigh inside. He never complained about what his father wanted him to do, even though it could be a lot sometimes.

Franklin Robertson II was an older man in his fifties whose intention was never to burden anyone, but to make sure they lived up to their full potential. That was all he wanted for his only son, Sean. His dream was for Sean to carry on the family legacy of mastering the ships of the sea, passed down to him from Sean's grandfather, and now Franklin II was ready to place that honor on to the next generation.

"Sean, you hear me?" he asked in a voice that always tried to sound gentle.

"Yes, Dad," Sean answered.

He moved to the radar screen near First Mate, Carlson. The youngest adult there gave Sean a look that said, "Your father means well." Being closer to Sean's age than Franklin was, Matthew Carlson understood more of the pressure put on someone at that age.

Sean studied the radar intently, taking in everything possible, like his father had told him. A few minutes of scouring the screen, the now excited teenager looked up at both of them. He smiled for the first time since being in there.

"What is it, son?" his father inquired of him. "How are we doing?"

"We're almost there," Sean answered rather happily. "We should reach New York in less than an hour."

Admiral Robertson motioned to his first mate to check if Sean was right. Sean hoped that his excitement concealed the fact that he felt discouraged for his father not trusting him. He walked over to the graduates peering in, ready to give them the news anyway.

"What's going on, Sean?" his best friend, Miles Wolfe, asked him.

He was the only graduate watching that was all the way in the room. He stood in a way that blocked the others from getting past him. As Sean's closest friend, Miles was the only one that shared an interest in what Sean was learning. The girls watching were only there to admire Sean's cuteness. Miles gave Sean some room to approach the other teenagers outside.

"According to the radar, we'll be at New York within the hour." Sean stated for everyone nearby to hear.

It was no less than two seconds after he finished when the group shouted in unison with joy. Miles congratulated Sean for a job well done and slapped him a high five. The ship became a screaming funhouse with every student running to tell whoever he or she knew about Sean's news. Sean watched them pretty quietly regarding that their adventure in New York was soon to begin. He walked off to tell somebody in particular. He couldn't possibly know how it was all going to turn out.

* * *

Joy let the warm, shower water flow down her body. She closed her eyes and pictured herself in a peaceful place far beyond the reaches of her recent terrors. Where such startling visions did not exist, and the encounters with an unspeakable evil had all been a seriously bad dream.

She opened her eyes with the serenity of her daydreams still with her. That immediately turned into a moaning gasp at her bare legs. The blood. She had washed her whole body, and the blood remained dripping on her thighs. Joy furiously scrubbed at the redness until her skin was close to turning raw. There was no success. The blood had this invincibility that mocked her.

She gave up in disgust. Turning off the shower, she stepped out to retrieve the towel that Rennie had laid out for her next to some fresh clothes. The shirt and pants Rennie had chosen went well with Joy's yellow hair. The pants had a deep blue color that matched the green of the blouse.

Joy pulled them on with simplicity. She remembered to put her gold bracelet back on over her pale wrist. Joy's skin never had that normal peach color like most. Her flesh wasn't completely white, just lightened due to Joy's low appetite. She never ate much due to the lack of trust she had in New York dining. Servers could put their cigarettes or unwashed hands in your food and think nothing of it.

She stopped at the bathroom door. Rennie was talking to someone on the other side. Joy thought of that tense man who obviously had authority over Rennie. He had demanded to speak about the incident with Joy and could be here now to barrel his way over to get to her. Joy listened for awhile and found that the male voice talking to Rennie was a calm, teenage one.

After a few minutes of casual conversation and asking how Joy was doing, the young man's voice told Rennie some news that could have knocked Joy over.

"We're going to be in New York before this hour's up," he said to her very gladly. "And since we're in the same group, we can climb the Statue of Liberty together. How does that sound?"

"That sounds wonderful," Joy heard Rennie reply. "Do you think we can convince the teachers to let Joy stay with us? I'm sure she'd have a lot of fun."

New York? Joy couldn't believe it. The graduates were taking a trip to her hometown. She had unknowingly been going home the whole time.

Even through her surprise, Joy wondered what the other teenager would say. If he knew about Joy's problems, he certainly would say no in an instant. But so far, he probably thought she was just another normal teenager.

"I'm sure we can. Three of them are very good about listening. And Ms. Diamond won't care as long as Joy's away from her precious cheerleading squad. You know how she is about sizing strangers like Joy up to determine if they're good influences first. The only one that might be a problem is your uncle."

Joy could tell that Rennie had a look of agreement on her face.

"My Uncle Charles is strict, but I'm sure he'll come around. He didn't like the idea of my being on this ship at first. He got used to it eventually, though. And he'll do the same thing with Joy."

There wasn't a whole lot of confidence in that last part. Joy's first impression from Rennie's tone was that Rennie and her uncle weren't exactly close. Through fairly easy deduction, Joy concluded that Rennie's Uncle Charles had been that man with the blue sweater over a shirt and tie that had scolded her as soon as she had gotten off the lifeboat.

More voices appeared in the background. Not known to Joy, one was the voice of Miles Wolfe.

"Your father said you were right, Sean. We're almost there. Come on, man. Let's get ready."

Next door to Rennie's room was Eva and a girl named Phoebe's. Most students had to share rooms expect for Rennie and a few others. Tamara was one of them, of course. Her parents had insisted that their daughter had everything in her bedroom to herself. Tamara had stopped next to Rennie's room to make sure that Eva had the best clothes to wear for New York.

She had looked past Miles at Sean putting a Statue of Liberty pendant around Rennie's neck.

"Nice gift, Sean. That cheap necklace must have taken up all of your allowance to buy," Tamara said snidely.

Through the bathroom door, Joy could feel Sean bursting with embarrassment. The good friend that he was, Miles defended him.

"Yeah? Well, just so you know, that necklace is worth more in value than your family's crappy, seven-figure salaries. Why is that? Because it's thoughtful, a word that obviously, _you_ don't know the meaning of."

Tamara shrugged his words off like they were lint. They were all just jealous, she knew.

"Just for that, you'll never get the honor of going out with me. Even if you _did_ meet my standards."

Joy heard a door slam as Tamara entered Eva and Phoebe's stateroom. Joy did not know what to make of these other graduates or if they were able to accept her. That was the reason why she did not go back into Rennie's stateroom until Sean and Miles had left.

* * *

The great city of New York became an hour away from the Lazarus, then half an hour, and now less than ten minutes. The towering landmarks of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building were just within the view of the graduates eagerly watching the horizon. The bright lights of New York illuminated the sky as a beacon of opportunity, like the city was still welcoming immigrants from decades ago.

The ship overtook the no longer dark waters. Excited thoughts from the planning graduates shot out at the massive buildings. Rennie and Sean were looking forward to gazing out upon the city from the Statue of Liberty. Tamara had her eye on dominating the theater scene and shopping in Macy's Department Store without ever having to check the price tags. Julius Gaw, the undefeated boxer from miles around, wanted to check out the action at Madison Square Garden. Other students were also chattering about the assortment of places they wanted to visit on the weekend here.

Unknown to everyone, except for Joy, the presence of Jason Voorhees made its way through the bay. All the creatures of the water scattered to give him room. Voorhees had no interest in anything else except to destroy the one life that had escaped him or in other words had defiled him. He knew she was on that ship headed for this strange array of lights and cement. Jason had to punish her and anyone else he viewed to be a threat of that goal.

He neared the southern edge of the Manhattan borough. Above him floating on the surface were still boats near docks made for visitors entering New York by boat. He moved past their shapes to a ladder rising up out of the water. Jason did not rush to it because he was not in a hurry. Seconds, minutes, and hours were nonexistent concepts to him. He had all the time in the world to do what he was designed to do.

His enormous, undead form appeared from the depths and climbed up the steel steps of the ladder. Jason stepped forth onto the city shoreline. An unfamiliar stimulus of noise all blended together surrounded him. A crowded traffic of cars moved along paved streets past concrete structures all lined up in rows. Jason's head turned every which way to scope out these new surroundings, totally unlike what he was used to back in Crystal Lake.

The human beings, the walking, talking bags of blood and bone that Jason had no feelings for, were everywhere. They may not have been on his territory, but the desire to annihilate them was not totally absent. Like his mother had said, mankind was his enemy.

He looked at a huge, steel-wire suspension bridge spanning the river on one side of him. It was the historic Brooklyn Bridge, always performing its job of crossing people between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The structure went on for miles to another area of bright lights and too many humans for Jason's taste.

He didn't care about any of the landmarks that he would see. To him, they meant nothing except places where many potential victims would crowd. Jason spotted the S. S. Lazarus headed to another shoreline in the distance. He heard the excited screams of all those that were probably protecting that one girl from him. For that, they had to pay. Jason stomped off in the direction of Manhattan that the Lazarus was headed. The graduates and any person in their wake would learn a bloody truth.

Jason was in New York.


	7. A Very Doomed Feeling

**Hello, readers. I know this story is being updated a lot slower than my other one. Maybe because it's not quite as popular, or that coming up with creative ideas for this one takes longer. I'll all open to suggestions for this story so I don't disappoint anyone. **

**This chapter may seem a bit boring because it's mostly about introducing more characters. I promise the first death scene in New York will happen in the next chapter. I'm not really going to follow the exact death order in the movie since I've made up more characters. So J.J. is not going to die next. **

The girl that Jason was going to tear apart New York to find had no idea of the danger that she and everybody else was in. The hope that everything would be okay now temporarily overrode the visions that were itching to cloud her head and show her that New York would soon be the city of the damned. Joy had spent the rest of her time on the ship near Rennie's side. She decided to stay away from the excitement exploding everywhere outside the room.

Her keen hearing picked up voices clamoring about how the magnificent city was now in sight. The stampede of footsteps was all heading up to the deck. There was probably nobody left inside except for her and Rennie. Joy had not gotten excited over anything in a long time, at least not of the pleasant kind, and certainly not over anything to do with Manhattan and its neighboring boroughs.

_Live there for awhile and you'll see it's nothing great_, she told the graduates in her mind.

She lay on the bed with her head resting on Toby. Rennie was taking her time to collect her bags for her stay in New York. Shyness emanated from Rennie onto Joy. She was not in a hurry to join the group, and Joy could understand why. People always had to pick someone as an outcast to make themselves feel better. It didn't take long for those outcasts to know who they were. Joy herself had been one since she was just old enough to encounter the standards of society.

"So where are you staying in New York?" Joy asked Rennie in a voice trying to sound casual.

Rennie took a moment to examine her amber curls in the mirror. She had on a decorative vest that stood proudly against her white blouse and blue jeans. Rennie did care about her appearance, not to impress the other teenagers who really could care less, but to make herself feel good. Sentimental value possessed the vest that she was straightening. Her mother had given it to her not long before that dreadful accident.

"The Hampton Inn," Rennie responded, finishing in front of the mirror pretty quickly.

She was not really a fan of makeup. She did not want to bring any more attention to herself than was necessary. Joy nodded to Rennie's reply.

"The Hampton Inn. Only three blocks from Times Square. They have complimentary breakfasts and flat screen TVs. Also an exercise room and on-site convenience store. You should enjoy it there."

Joy said this in a serious tone, lacking excitement, and instead merely reciting information. Rennie reacted with surprise.

"How do you know all that, Joy?" she asked, not sounding as astounded as she felt.

Joy knew she would find out eventually. It was no big deal, though. She sat up on the bed with Toby lifting his head to see where she was going.

"I'm actually _from_ New York. I live right in the borough of Manhattan. Pretty lucky for me that I ended up on this ship, huh?"

Rennie turned to study Joy like the girl had come from the most amazing place on Earth.

"Really? That sounds cool. I was just telling Sean that maybe you could join our group. Since you're from New York, would you enjoy showing us around?"

Joy glanced in Rennie's direction without looking directly in the girl's eyes. Would the shyness still residing within her ever go away? Rennie was looking at her to add the enjoyment to the graduates' stay that they could not get if not familiar with the city's landscape.

Joy told herself to relax. If she couldn't trust Rennie, the only one that she had felt any comfort around, then who _could_ she trust? Joy nodded.

"Sure, I can show you around. By the way, that one girl that was being mean to Sean won't be in your group, will she?"

That strict voice, so distinct that even Joy knew who it was, reverberated outside the door.

"Rennie?! Let's go! We're here! Bring that girl with you too!"

Joy easily noticed Rennie mouthing, _Her name is Joy_, in silent response. There was no way she was about to talk back aloud to her uncle.

"Yes, Uncle Charles! We're coming!" she replied out loud.

Joy got up from the bed to assist Rennie with carrying her bags. The faithful dog that he was, Toby was right behind them.

"That girl you're referring to is Tamara Mason," Rennie answered Joy's earlier question. "She thinks she's better than everybody because of her wealthy parents and the fact that her mom will help her become famous like she is. Don't worry about her. Between us, I don't think she's anything great. And no, she's not in our group."

Rennie chatted to Joy on their way to the ship's deck. Her voice was soft and very easy to listen to. While Rennie talked about where she was from, inside, she couldn't believe how much she was opening up. It usually was _never_ this easy for her. Rennie quickly scolded herself for talking too much. Now, Joy became the subject of the conversation.

"Since you're from New York, how did you get on our ship?" Rennie asked curiously. "I take it you came on here when the Lazarus was parked at the docks."

That inquiry from Rennie reminded Joy of the horror she had been through that led her to the ship. Her body froze all over, which resulted in her stopping just before they were about to step onto the deck. Her skin underneath the green top beaded with cold sweat. Rennie looked at her with regard.

"Are you okay, Joy?"

Joy didn't answer for a long while. The memories of seeing Voorhees, the form of death itself, turn away from Suzie and Jim like they were nothing and pursue her so viciously returned. Joy begged within herself to know where the monster was now. She felt him all around, however her visions would not pinpoint an exact location. Joy had a _very _doomed feeling.

She laid her widened eyes on Rennie. The Wickham girl probably knew those two victims if they had been a part of her graduating class. Joy did not want to tell her about them, though she felt that it was the right thing to do. There was no way she was about to bring Rennie into this.

To her silent relief, the door to the decks opened. A black-haired girl, the one that Joy had seen rocking out during the celebration, peered in on them. She blew a bubble of gum and popped it before speaking.

"Hey, Wickham," she said. "Your uncle's looking for you. _Again_."

She annotated "Again" while making her exasperated sigh at Mr. McCulloch very evident. Rennie wasn't the only one that could be bothered by Charles McCulloch's fretting. However, some students, like this girl called J.J, did not keep it inside.

"Thanks, J.J." Rennie replied.

J.J. and Rennie joined the screaming display of students on the deck waiting for Admiral Robertson to drop the anchor. Sean was standing near his father, waving to attract the attention of Rennie. Joy just made out Rennie's face among the neon lights of the city. The dazzling colors glimmered all around the ship, playing dancing rainbows across the graduates' faces. Rennie was motioning for Joy not to worry. Joy swallowed to try to moisten her cotton mouth. If it was only that easy.

* * *

Admiral Robertson and Michael Carlson secured the ship in the bay in view of the Brooklyn Bridge. They let down the ramp for the students to exit the Lazarus. The two immediately stepped aside, knowing the spontaneous teenagers were not going to allow them to go down first.

_Let them have their fun while they're young_, Franklin Robertson II thought. _It won't be long before they have to realize that life isn't all about play._

The admiral had been to New York so many times during his Navy life that he didn't get as excited anymore. In fact, he had experienced the greatest array of circumstances, so nothing really was able to surprise him. He paid no mind to remaining on the ship waiting for all the bustling graduates to leave. The S.S. Lazarus was his most prized possession. It was the first ever ship that he had captained.

Franklin turned to Engineer Carlson, his right-hand man. The 26-year-old engineer had learned a lot about the sea from the admiral. They had taken part in quite a few expeditions together.

"This is your first ever cruise?" Franklin asked the younger man.

Michael spoke as loud as he could to be heard above the shouting of the teenagers and the busy traffic of New York.

"Yes, it is. Never seen so many adolescents in my life."

Admiral Robertson nodded. He watched for Sean among the crowds gathering on the deck. He wished to talk to his son before the teenager disappeared to enjoy the sights of the city. But Franklin didn't see that happening. Sean was probably more interested in hanging out with that Rennie girl than be spending time with his father.

"I know you want Sean to be exactly like you," Engineer Carlson spoke up, reading the admiral's thoughts. "But he's still exploring the world yet. You need to let him decide what _he_ wants to be. And no matter what, you'll always be proud of him."

Michael had a boy himself, only 19 months, but his wife was already delving into books that dealt with the rest of their child's life. And of course she had wanted him to read them as well. Carlson felt a little out of place giving advice to someone of higher ranking. The words had just come out.

"That was pretty impressive, Carlson," Robertson said to him. "You're going to make a great father for your boy. I know you won't push him too hard."

Down below on the decks, there were stressful voices from the teachers, ordering the students to get into their groups. Mrs. Josie Diamond was asking Mr. Charles McCulloch where the buses were to pick them up since he was supposed to know everything. A teenager stood videotaping everything like it was a big drama scene.

_It sure makes my job a lot easier_, Michael Carlson thought about what was taking place.

* * *

"You got your group together yet?" Mr. McCulloch inquired of Ms. Van Duesen next to him.

Colleen scanned her checklist of students. Everybody was checked off except for two.

"They're all accounted for, except for Suzie Donaldson and Jim Miller," she answered.

"Excuse me," Charles said. To the crowd, he shouted, "Everybody settle down! Lucas, how is the bag checking going?"

A handsome young man with well-groomed, sandy brown hair called in reply. He appeared to be having a hard time with Julius Gaw and his friends. Lucas Fairchild was the Lakeview High class president and the only student that Charles McCulloch felt was truly responsible. Having any kind of favor with the strict biology teacher did not sit well with Lucas's classmates, especially not with the rebellious Julius.

"I haven't found anything that is against the rules yet," Lucas told Charles. "Though Julius is giving me a bit of a hassle."

Julius and his close boxer friend, Barry Curtis, gave Lucas looks of smugness. They certainly did not care what the one they called the "teacher's pet" thought of them. Julius crossed his arms over his red, white, and blue boxing suit.

"I don't let anybody in my bag, but me," he said. "Especially not our so-called president who's not as good as he thinks he is."

"I don't think I'm better than you," Lucas replied in his smooth, professional manner. "I'm just doing my job of making sure nobody has any drugs or alcohol on their person."

"Well, I can tell you I don't," Julius retorted, raising his head to show there was no intimidation.

Charles McCulloch looked at his watch and grumbled to himself.

_Couldn't things ever go smoothly around here? And where were those buses? They were already five minutes late._

"Julius, just comply so we can move on. Mr. Russell, help Lucas if there's any trouble."

Mr. Russell was the Lakeview High math teacher. He nodded to Mr. McCulloch and headed over to Lucas. The math teacher had a superior height that helped him get things done. Charles resumed with Colleen.

"They're probably too busy screwing around to enjoy the culture and art that New York can present to them," he spoke about the absent Suzie and Jim. "Too busy exploring each other than New York. What is wrong with teenagers these days?"

Tamara and Eva strode by at that moment. Tamara wore a black, leather skirt and a red, cashmere sweater. Her heels made a clacking sound on the deck. Every boy she passed stopped and gaped at her.

"I always knew Suzie Donaldson was easy," she said snidely.

Kayla Dykestra was behind her in line. She was wearing a maroon, argyle shirt over her cheerleading skirt.

"As opposed to the saint that _you _are," she responded.

* * *

Despite the occasional arguments, every student finally got with the teacher he or she needed to be with. There were five groups set up to somewhat ease the load of everyone traveling together at once. To help each teacher out, every group also had a more responsible student to assist with organizing the day's activities.

Joy stood near the deck's edge, away from most of the crowd. Part of her continued to believe that she didn't belong with the graduates. She gazed out over the illuminant moon in its position over the World Trade Center. The glamour of neon lights could not block it out. The business of the city continued well into the night.

Manhattan was her home. There were so many people around that Joy had no need to think that the monster could still get her. The form of hatred directed at humans was in the darkness of its territory where it belonged. _Right?_ She slightly jumped when Rennie tapped her shoulder.

"Sorry," the Wickham girl apologized.

She looked with Joy at the city for awhile. The cool sea breeze blew through their long hair.

"Wow, New York is beautiful," Rennie remarked with admiration. "Just the sights of the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, and the Brooklyn Bridge really enlighten your mind."

She offered her hand to Joy that had friendship written all over it.

"Come on, let's join our group. I'm assigned to the group that my uncle's leading. Which is not a surprise."

Rennie tried to laugh lightly to show it was no big deal. However, Joy could see her disappointment. Rennie would have definitely preferred being in Ms. Van Duesen's group.

The buses, set up to take the graduates to their hotels, beeped to announce their arrival from among the many buildings. Every teenager let their voice raise higher in excitement, if it was at all possible for their clamor to be even greater.

Joy took Rennie's hand. A bolt struck her like lightning. There was a scene of a young girl that looked just like Rennie being pulled underneath the water by a decayed hand. Joy did not witness who the hand belonged to. The girl's screams echoed against the walls of Joy's mind. Joy cried and instantaneously let go of Rennie's hand. As soon as she did, the scene vanished into thin air.

Joy backed away, struggling to take deep breaths. Rennie looked so confused. In her perspective, her budding friend had the reaction of rejecting her.

"Joy? What's wrong?"

Joy lowered her head and sensed shame burning inside her. She knew that students were staring at her pitiful state.

"The girl must be afraid she'll look gay holding Rennie's hand," one of Kayla's friends, Lola, commented.

"It's okay, Joy. I understand if you're too shy to hold my hand," Rennie gave her response. "Ignore what Lola just said. She thinks she can say what she wants just because she's a cheerleader."

Joy followed Rennie and Toby to the bus set for the Hampton Inn. She only felt a little lucky when none of the judgmental girls boarded with them.

* * *

Joy could wish all she wanted, but Evil was far closer than she would have thought. It stood on the docks closer to the docking site of the Lazarus from where it had first climbed up that ladder.

_Another mile:_ Nothing any different. Just more blabbering humans foolishly ignoring the deadly form now walking among them. Evil turned its head and eyed the bustling New Yorkers coldly, desiring them all to drop dead.

_A second mile:_ The Lazarus was closer in sight. The seagulls gathering on the dock were a sign that the graduates had left. The buses holding all those victims pulled away to disappear into the depths of Manhattan.

Once in awhile, a deck hand moved nearby, glancing at the figure curiously before resuming his work. The eye underneath the mask narrowed. Every person in sight could be wiped out. Just let a little while longer for evil to grow accustomed to these new killing grounds. Combined with the defiling Joy to ignite the bloodthirsty urge, the massacres would soon become a reality.


	8. Death on the Bridge

**Here is the chapter where my first New York death takes place. I'm not 100% confident about it, so I'm willing to revise it if necessary. It has to do with Jason seemingly being able to teleport, which was shown a few times in the movie. I don't know if people love it or hate it. Maybe it just shows not to take your eyes off him. I hope you like it. After this chapter, it might be awhile because I don't know yet what's going to happen next. **

It wasn't long before the buses carrying the graduates were stuck in New York City traffic. The teenagers were not complaining however. The slower pace allowed them to point out every inch of the city to each other. Some of them on Joy's bus were taking pictures of Times Square as they headed closer. A boy with shaggy brown hair and glasses had his window open and was videotaping the passers-by on the street.

Joy sat quietly on her seat next to Rennie. She was quite used to Manhattan traffic and waited patiently like always. She let Rennie sit near the window, so the Wickham girl could enjoy the sights better. Rennie murmured with fascination at the horse-drawn carriages, the neon shadows lighting the way, and the majestic Broadway Theater.

Even Charles McCulloch, seated behind the driver, lessened on his strictness and observed the colossal billboards that were a highlight of Times Square. The only order he gave was to the boy with the video camera.

"Wayne, you better not drop that camera of yours out the window. I guarantee you won't get it back."

Joy leaned her head back against the seat. She scratched Toby's ears, who was seated at her feet and had his head on her lap. Something about the girl had a hold on the dog. Not that Rennie cared or maybe didn't even know. To her, Toby had simply found a new friend. Rennie turned her head towards Joy.

"So Joy, are we going to start the tour when we get to the hotel?"

Joy's mind focused on what she wanted to do that night. Should she show Rennie and the other graduates in her group around the whole weekend? Or was it better to go see her family and not let her sister suffer without her anymore?

The most important question from deep within her psyche was: _Shouldn't you do something about the evil following you before the whole city pays for it?

* * *

_

One bus was not headed in the same direction as the others. That particular bus contained Tamara Mason. Everybody on her bus was either popular, a cheerleader, or the boys lucky enough to be a boyfriend of one of them. This wasn't exactly Tamara's group; the group was led by Ms. Diamond, but it frequently seemed like Tamara Mason said how things should be.

One of those things was that she wouldn't be caught dead in one of those hotels that anybody could stay in. She had reserved the Ty Warner Penthouse Suite of the Four Seasons Hotel, long before she had graduated. Tamara had given all those in her group the honor of staying in the suite during their visit.

Had any of them turned her down? Certainly not. Even those that were rivals of hers, such as Kayla, would never miss the opportunity of living like the mega rich for a couple of days.

The bus driver had no objection to taking them somewhere that the school had not listed. Any arguments had disappeared with five hundred dollars from Tamara's own hand. The Mason girl could pay her way out of anything, and she never hesitated to show that off.

Behind the seat where she and Eva sat, two of Kayla's fellow cheerleaders, Gwyn and Maureen, were becoming irritated with the traffic. Gwyn Charlene ran a brush through her highlighted, multilayered hair for the fifth time. She held a compact mirror to Eva in front of her and frowned.

Gwyn had once been Tamara's good friend before she had been replaced with Eva during senior year. Tamara had actually told Gwyn right to her face that she needed someone to help her make it to graduation, and Gwyn didn't fit the bill of intelligence. When Tamara had said that she needed help, she _really_ meant she needed someone to copy all the answers from.

Gwyn started hanging out with Maureen Becker recently. At least Maureen didn't trade in her friends like they were thrift store items. One characteristic about Maureen, one that set her apart from the stereotypical views of cheerleaders, was that she wanted to be in politics. Maureen had told Gwyn cheerleading gave her a way to release the stress involved in studying high school law.

That interest in politics sparked her mind now when she looked out the window and saw the mayor's daughter. The teenager was standing outside the entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel, trying to look interested as a woman in a mink coat talked to her. Maureen could only keep from bursting out loud.

Jackie Koch, daughter of Edward Koch, was the most illustrious of all the political daughters. It was Maureen's dream to meet her ever since her political goals had blossomed. She pressed her face against the glass. She begged inside for Jackie not to leave before they reached the hotel.

The bus pulled up in front of the impressive Four Seasons Hotel. Its four flags, two on each side of the elaborate entrance with its lighted awning, waved to this fortunate group of graduates. The hotel's many stories rose up high toward the stars. The creamy brick pattern showed off New York's modern style.

Ms. Diamond stood up after the bus came to a stop. She addressed the famous of Lakeview High.

"Here we are at the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel, one of the most expensive hotels of New York City. Let's take a moment of silence to mourn your classmates that will not be staying here."

Some of the girls laughed at their teacher's sarcastic statement. Her cheerleaders knew that even Ms. Diamond looked down on those graduates that she referred to as, "low-class."

While Tamara began boasting about all the extravagance inside and how her mother sometimes stayed here while filming in New York, Maureen got up and hustled down the bus aisle. On her way to the front, she looked out one of the windows and saw Jackie Koch walking away from the hotel.

"No!" she moaned loudly to herself.

She jumped off the bus before the driver had fully opened the door. Ms. Diamond stared, startled, at Maureen's hurried, brown-haired head moving away down the pavement.

"Where's she going?" the gym teacher wondered aloud.

Instead of rushing after her, she spoke to the others about walking off the bus, single-file. Josie Diamond was nobody's babysitter. If Maureen Becker really wanted to bathe in the lap of luxury, she would come back.

* * *

Eventually, after a period of yelling from the teachers to get everything in order, the students had all arrived at their scheduled hotels and were settling into their rooms. Both Mr. McCulloch and Ms. Van Duesen's groups were staying at the Hampton Inn near Times Square.

Charles still did not know about the rebellion planned by Tamara Mason to stay in a more expensive hotel than the one set aside for her group. If he did, he would undergo a furious fit and demand to go over there to straighten them out, only to be kicked out of the Four Seasons for not being rich enough.

Being a high school science teacher did not exactly give you the salary for a high-class trip to New York. Mr. McCulloch hadn't thought that the school could afford to come here at all. When the cruise idea had been brought up by Ms. Van Duesen, Charles had been the skeptic the whole way through the organizing process. He insisted whatever money they could come up with should be used for more reasonable means.

But here they all were now, unpacking and getting ready to embark on a magnificent, sight-seeing weekend in the Big Apple. Money had somehow not become an interference. As shocked though Charles was, he was not about to stop this at all. Maybe this trip would do him some good.

* * *

Jason was now away from the docks and took his place near the gates leading to the Brooklyn Bridge. Whatever child-like nature that was inside him swirled with confusion at the sights. The bright lights all around irritated him to no end. Evil desired to reside in darkness, and it was hard to find here.

Jason watched the lines of cars making their way onto the bridge. The people inside the vehicles may have noticed the evil form nearby. However, they paid him no mind, like Jason was just another crazy New Yorker that always looked different than the others. Jason couldn't wait to prove them wrong.

Then, why was he waiting? Was his adjustment to the Manhattan surroundings not complete yet?

Voorhees did not take long to adjust. Not when that time could be spent destroying victims. No, the evil spirit within him said to stay right here. His mother's voice spoke with the evil as well.

Jason's very first New York victim would come right to him. A human could be so stupid to walk right into his hands, like he or she wanted to die. That's how it sometimes happened in Crystal Lake, and it was not about to be any different here.

* * *

Maureen ran as fast as the tights she was wearing would allow her. Her black dress shoes clacking hard on the uneven sidewalk were almost as loud as the clomping of the carriage horse's hooves. Maureen took a sweeping look around and spotted Jackie Koch in the back seat of a limousine. The graduate's heart fluttered a mile a minute. The limousine was moving faster than the other cars, like the traffic swept aside to let the people inside it pass.

With that pace, Jackie would be out of her sight very soon. Maureen should have given up and gone back to the momentary safety of the hotel. Just enjoy the elegance provided for you for it is more important than chasing after a teenager through New York.

That's what her common sense told her. But her excitement was yelling that meeting such a renowned daughter was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Getting to talk to her is worth all this drama.

Maureen followed the limousine from the sidewalk for awhile. Though soon enough, the fancy vehicle turned a corner headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. Maureen squirmed while waiting for the walking sign to flash on. She dashed across the intersection before anyone else, ignoring the other pedestrians raising their eyes at her skirt blowing around her.

Time seemed like ages as Maureen hurried in the direction of the limousine. She had been here once before when she was younger, so she thought that made her confident enough to know where to go. Though if the bridge wasn't so obvious in the distance, she would have admitted to herself that she was about to get lost.

Maureen searched the rows of cars moving on the bridge. As luck would have it, she found the limousine. She stepped up onto the pedestrian walkway elevated above the roads of cars. It wasn't exactly good treading for her fancy shoes. Despite this, Maureen was stubborn enough to speed walk along the walkway after Jackie. She couldn't see the car from up here, but was determined to meet it on the other side.

"Jackie!" she shouted down after the car. "Jackie, wait! I want to talk to you!"

The beeping of car horns made it difficult for Maureen to sound very loud. She quickened her stride and stumbled. She fell forward and landed hard unto her hands, shooting sharp tingling through her wrists. She felt one of her shoes being thrown off her foot. Maureen turned her head and witnessed it falling toward the cars below.

She groaned deeply, both disappointed and humiliated. Any late-night pedestrians walking past were probably laughing at her, wondering what in the world she was doing. While still laying on the walkway, heavy footsteps made their way in her direction. The relentless beats made by them had the power of an earthquake through the wooden slats.

Maureen raised her head, feeling a slowly growing dread. Through the bridge lights, there was a figure stomping right towards her. The graduate was struck with its evil as whoever it was drew closer. The form stopped and stood there, feeling taller than the Brooklyn Bridge itself. Maureen was the only one around who sensed the horror arising.

She observed the figure's hulking body, tattered dark clothes, and more importantly, the pure white hockey mask which gave him recognition. Maureen scrambled to her feet and slipped on the one only covered by tights.

Jason Voorhees. She knew him instantly.

_But didn't he live in Crystal Lake? What was he doing in New York?_

The monster and teenager eyed each other on the bridge. The few people at this hour continued to walk by, ignoring them like the two were in their own world. Maureen's hazel eyes quivered in fright. Jason took one step, and that was the signal for the girl to take off running.

Maureen dashed for her life down the bridge, heading for the borough of Brooklyn. Her shoeless foot caused her to slip a few more times. She fought to retain her balance and keep on running without ever looking back. Jason's footsteps pounded on the walkway behind her.

She saw the carriage seconds before she was about to run into the horse. The animal's whinnying alerted her to jump out of the way. Maureen just made it without being struck by the horse's body. She slammed into the steel webbing of ropes and cables connecting the upcoming granite tower. The driver continued the carriage onward without the slightest concern for Maureen.

Her fingers, bleeding from the impact, clutched onto the crisscrossing ropes. She whipped her head around and expected to see Jason already caught up to her.

Nobody was there. Jason had disappeared. The teenager gaped in confusion. The wires on both sides of the walkway kept anyone from leaving without her seeing them.

_What? He can't just disappear. That's not logically possible._ Maureen wondered in the tone of all the law that she had studied.

Out of nowhere, Jason was there. He grabbed hold of her long hair and started yanking her away from the webbing. The teenager clutched on for dear life, only to realize that his ruthless pulling made it hopeless for her. That is, until one of the passers-by finally reacted to her dilemma.

"Hey!" a young man shouted at Jason. "What are you doing?!"

Jason jerked his head towards the person trying to defy him. Maureen used that split second decision to whip her hair away from the monster. She clambered up the wire and steel netting to the very top. Adrenaline helped her scale the towering height. Otherwise, she never would have made it.

During her climb, she lost her other shoe. It landed with a clunk next to Jason, who looked at the shoe and then up at her.

The girl's stomach churned as the high altitude wind rushed through her hair. She glanced down at the cars below that were only the sizes of toys. She felt like the webbing was rocking beneath her tired feet, and she would fall towards the roadway any minute. But at least Maureen believed that there was no way the huge killer could get up here.

She was ready to vomit from being up so high. But soon that became the least of her problems. A dead hand grabbed onto the back of her shirt.

Before Maureen could blink, she was flying through the air above the Brooklyn Bridge. So high that her body felt like it was soaring among the clouds. The New York gusts rushed past her, chilling her skin. Maureen was filled with a moment of freedom, before she started plummeting downwards toward one of the bridge's towers.

As an instinct, Maureen closed her eyes and shot out her arms. The force of her landing blew up both of her front limbs. At least that's what it felt like. She lay in a puddle of her own blood getting wider by the second. Every bone in her arms was smashed form the impact.

She couldn't move a muscle. The shock had probably quaked her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed. Which was likely a good thing as Maureen felt less pain searing through her flesh. The row of lit skyscrapers danced in her fading vision. If Maureen had the strength, she would have blamed herself for all this. It was her stubbornness of meeting a celebrity that brought her here.

The form of death appeared on the tower. How, she didn't know because it wasn't her place to question the power of anti-life. From her, there was no resistance as Death picked her up and tossed her off the tower. She fell down through oblivion, crashing onto one car before falling off and being torn into human road kill by the others. Her bloodied clothes floating on the East River marked the last of the teenager.

Maureen Becker, former law-aspiring student, had received the morbid honor of being the first life claimed by Jason in New York. Jason did not think of that at all and wouldn't care anyway. He walked away down the bridge back towards Manhattan. That was where Joy was, so that was where he had to go.


	9. Confusing Incident

**I know Jason is not in this chapter, so there's not a terrible amount of action. After this chapter, I'll have to stop for awhile and plan out the plot more to see if I can make this story the best it can be and attract more readers. As I said in my Vengeance for the Innocent story, I don't want the movie's bad rep cause people not to read this story. My intention is to have the story contain what people were missing in the movie. **

The sense of death enveloped Joy's mind. Flashes of the Brooklyn Bridge told her where the death had occurred. For a minute, Joy felt herself being right there with the unfortunate soul. The falling through space, the life being torn to shreds by the careless cars below, the blood staining the East River: all of it Joy experienced. It didn't matter if she was miles away in the present uneventful atmosphere of the Hampton Inn.

Joy shook her head until the images came out the other end. She refused to have this visions invite themselves in. She fought to ignore the fact of the evil behind this recent destruction of a human life.

New York contained millions of human beings. Death occurred every day, and what Joy saw was just another New Yorker falling off a bridge due to his or her lack of concern.

_That's it,_ Joy told herself. _Just suppress them, and they'll go away._

She turned away from the window that she had been gazing out for the last 10 minutes. Joy was waiting for the other students in Rennie's room of the hotel. Her budding friend was currently bustling about in the private bathroom.

Joy plopped down with her hands clasped on the bed. Not much for her to do. No packing, no exploring, for she had been in this hotel more than a few times.

Now that Joy had pushed back the tragic bombardment, it was silent. That is, until Rennie's screams erupted from behind the bathroom door. Joy leapt up and began to head towards the sounds of smashing glass and Rennie falling against the wall.

"Rennie!" Joy shouted, while reaching for the door.

At that moment, Rennie threw open the door and slammed it shut before Joy could look inside. Rennie's chest rose up and down rapidly with each petrified breath. The girl rushed away from Joy, emanating terror-mixed shame, and went for the door to the hallway.

Joy was left alone to ponder what had just happened. She stared firmly at the room where Rennie had experienced a horror that had left her unable to share with her new friend. Joy reached her hand slowly for the knob, while swallowing hard and preparing herself to fight.

She yanked the door open and leapt forward, only to be met by: No one. She looked around seeing nobody visible, though a presence was rattling her at this instant. Joy moved farther in to see the shattered mirror and blood-stained sink.

Joy had witnessed a lot of confusion in New York that was quickly replaced by normality. But this she could not get right away. Had Rennie smashed the mirror herself: the blood being from her injured hand?

No. Somehow Joy could not see that. And there had been no blood on Rennie's hands.

Joy left to find Rennie, all the while going through in her mind what had taken place in that bathroom. What made her wonder even more was when Ms. Van Duesen came to see them later and didn't notice a thing.

* * *

"Jackie! Jackie!" a worried male voice called from outside the limousine.

The fancy vehicle was parked at a gas station just inside the Brooklyn borough. Of course, every customer spoke excitedly about the famous Jackie Koch grazing this unworthy station with her presence. There were far more expensive and thus more "worthy" gas stations back in Manhattan.

But Jackie didn't believe in worthiness. A gas station was a gas station, and every business deserved an equal profit to her.

In fact, if one didn't know who she was, Jackie would have looked like any other teenager. Reddish brown hair flowed from her head, beautiful and well taken care of, but not to the point of being overly extravagant. Her dark brown eyes always reflected higher than average maturity for her age of 15 years.

And Jackie never wore the clothes of luxurious fabric or donned jewelry of diamonds, pearls, or sapphires. All that money for materialistic pleasures could have been used for more charitable means. No, Jackie was just fine wearing her basic blouse and jeans. Okay, maybe a nice dress now and then, but nothing with a price equal to building a homeless shelter.

The person calling to her began to tap on her window without stopping. Jackie pressed the button to automatically roll down the window. She instantly recognized the young man peering in at her. He looked ready to explode with all the fear growing inside him.

"Sammy?" Jackie spoke while remaining calm. "What's wrong?"

His anxiety ceaseless, Sammy stammered out his story. He clutched down hard on the open window: his hands white even through the darkness.

"Slow down," Jackie told him. "So what you're saying is that you saw someone being attacked?"

"Yes," Sammy continued to rush out his words. "Some huge guy was trying to grab this girl and pull her towards him, while she fought to get away. I yelled at him, and he let go, but I'm still afraid of what happened to her. She climbed up and just disappeared."

Jackie's face was full of thought. She attempted to comprehend this with some sort of logic.

"You mean the girl climbed the beams of the bridge? She couldn't have gone that far up. And what about the attacker? I doubt he could have gone after her then."

Sammy exhaled a deep breath. Jackie always had this calm and reasonable tone that made one agree with her. She definitely appeared to be an adult in a teenager's body. And in a fairly slim body, nonetheless. It probably had to do with her diet of healthy snacks.

"Yeah, I doubt it too," Sammy eventually agreed. "So what do you think I should do?"

Jackie was known for giving people advice. It was just one of the many reasons why she was so well liked among the citizens.

"So did the guy leave after you yelled at him?"

Sammy shrugged.

"I guess so. Because I looked to see if anyone else would help me, and when I looked back, he was gone."

It was then that the limousine driver started heading out of the gas station. Jackie finished up by suggesting to Sammy that he should look around the bridge for the girl to see if she was okay.

"She probably had a spat with her boyfriend. Stuff like that happens at least 10 times a day in New York. If you find her, just check on her and see if you can help her at all."

Sammy thanked the clear-headed Jackie and hurried back towards the bridge. Jackie watched him leave until he blended into the bustling city traffic.

She then sat up straight and prepared herself for another charity ball. If Sammy had given her more of a description of the man, maybe Jackie would have realized exactly whom they had been talking about. And they had done it in a casual fashion no less, which was unacceptable, regarding the anti-life still hungry for more human prey.

* * *

New touches of glamour had been added to the Four Seasons Hotel. All the elite of Lakeview High bustled with heads held high to riches reserved only for them. Those that didn't possess much wealth, such as Eva and Gabe, clung to ones they knew and tried not to burst out in awe. Such outbursts would clearly indicate that they had nowhere near the status as others there.

Only one room was quieter in its showy image. That room was where Gwyn Charlene packed worriedly, stopping now and then to glance at the door for Maureen. She had not seen her friend since Maureen had rushed off to pursue her biggest role model.

Gwyn held up a silk skirt, contemplating whether the other girls would view it as elegant, when the door opened. She jerked her head up and happily prepared herself to greet Maureen. To her disappointment, it was Ms. Diamond.

"Gwyn," she said in that firm tone. "Why are you still packing? The hotel is holding the most exquisite dance just for all the best Lakeview students. Are you coming?"

Gwyn sighed. Her captain constantly had the mannerisms of being in a rush. And she would stretch out her authority way past the graduation ceremony next month.

"I'd like to, but I think I'll skip and go see the city life. I need to find Maureen anyway."

Josie Diamond's face scrunched up while looking like she had been betrayed.

_A girl that could have it all here wanted to go mingle with the lower class out there? Was that even possible?_

Gwyn answered her thoughts. She had been on the squad since her sophomore year: long enough to know that Ms. Diamond did not have the possessions to back up her arrogance.

"I did not come to New York just to be cooped up in here. I am going to find Maureen, have fun, and mingle with whomever I want."

Trying to copy her teacher's superior stance, Gwyn grabbed her purse and walked straight toward the door. Ms. Diamond could only move aside to let the teenager through. However, she had to get one last order in.

"You can't go out there alone. Manhattan is full of trashy hooligans who will mug a classy girl like you as soon as you step outside."

Gwyn was already halfway down the hall of pearl white carpeting. She turned around and smiled coyly.

"That's why I brought pepper spray. I'm not _that_ stupid."

* * *

Gwyn wasn't the only one who refused to follow the teacher's rules about when to have fun. In fact, more than a few students were venturing out on their own instead of waiting for their group to start the first sightseeing trip.

According to Mr. McCulloch's organizational plans for the teachers and students alike, there would be three scheduled trips: each one for exploration of different landmarks of the city. That way things would run more smoothly, or so he had said. According to the students, it was just more proof that Mr. McCulloch had to be in charge.

Two of those rebellious classmates were Joanne Jowett, known as JJ, and Wayne Hedden. Actually, JJ was the more rebellious one, who had dragged the quiet Wayne along with her, while telling him to come out of his shell. And it shouldn't have been any surprise that both of them were from Mr. McCulloch's group.

They had caught a cab not too far from the Hampton Inn and were now steadily moving along with the Times Square traffic. All that while, they were engaged in a dispute about where to go. To tell the truth, dispute wasn't a good word for it because it was impossible to argue with Wayne.

It wasn't because he was intimidating: far from it. Wayne Hedden was probably the mildest mannered guy in Lakeview High. He avoided disagreements at all costs.

He was gently stating his opinion that maybe he could hang out with Tamara while they were here in New York. JJ continuously rolled her eyes and shuffled her guitar from one hand to the other. She insisted to Wayne that Tamara was a user, and there was no way she would let herself be seen with him. Not unless he was serving her, that is.

They were too busy talking to notice that their cab had neared the Brooklyn Bridge already. A dreadful sign of their destination soon arrived. A bloodcurdling scream erupted from somewhere on the bridge. It carried over to the cab: so powerful the sound could have shattered the window glass.

The two graduates whipped their heads towards the window. JJ crawled over and peered out, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"What was that?" she questioned, aghast. "There's no way that's normal here."

Out of the corner of her eye, JJ noticed the cab driver hadn't responded in any way. Neither were any of the people in the nearby cars. The girl seethed with frustration.

_What was wrong with them? Had they not heard that scream?_

JJ was not familiar with New Yorkers' nearly callous attitudes towards strangers in peril. However, the one who had emitted the scream was not a stranger to Jackie Koch. And the girl was currently unaware that she would never see her friend again.

**I'm sure you can all guess who just got killed. I think not seeing the death is just as effective because it leaves more to the people's imaginations. **


	10. Chrysler Kill

**I appreciate all those that read this story and write just to please you loyal fans. If you can think of anything to improve the story so more people will read it, please let me know.**

Rennie and Joy waited in the lounge of the Hampton Inn for Mr. McCulloch. Joy occasionally glanced at the girl next to her, who was often fiddling with the necklace Sean had given her. Whenever they locked gazes, they would both look away at the same time. Joy fought the urge to ask Rennie what happened because the teenager definitely looked like she wasn't willing to talk about it.

Joy was no hypocrite however. She understood completely for her visions were unknown to everyone, even her parents. If Joy talked about everything, she would be labeled more of an outcast than she was now.

It made her a little jealous when Rennie perked up upon seeing Ms. Van Duesen. The woman's warm smile softened her anxious state. Colleen nodded at Joy and then greeted the both of them. Before Joy could speak, Mr. McCulloch entered the lounge. She felt his authority clashing with Ms. Van Duesen's tenderness.

"Joy," he spoke gruffly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He led her away from the only person Joy felt like she belonged with. The stares of the other students in Mr. McCulloch's group confirmed this. Rennie's sympathetic look carried after her. Ms. Van Duesen knew this and sat down next to Rennie.

"Don't worry, Rennie," she assured the girl, one of many times. "She'll be all right. I made certain your uncle wouldn't yell at her. Because I would love for her to join our sightseeing. Isn't that what you want too?"

Rennie smiled thinly and nodded. She rested her head against the kind-hearted teacher's shoulder. She listened as Colleen talked about how she was going to quit teaching and become an author. In fact, her first book, she said, was going to be about their trip here to New York.

That would have been the ultimate horror story. Unlike the others, excluding Joy, Rennie was not completely unaware of the danger ahead.

* * *

"And back to you, Charlotte," Daphne said in her dramatic manner.

When she knew Charlotte wasn't looking anymore, she sighed grudgingly and looked about the room with the same tone. New York Times reporter, Daphne Nelson, had just covered another speech of the mayor's daughter. Jackie Koch had spoken to the Brooklyn Historical Society about a fundraiser to increase funding to help the illiterate, or something like that.

Jackie was involved with so many activities that Daphne was tired of following her around. She was secretly relieved that she wouldn't have to cover the charity ball Jackie was going to afterwards. She insisted to her boss that she wanted to report the more suspenseful goings-on in New York, but he would not have it.

Daphne believed it had to do with his sexist attitude. Her fellow reporter, Derrick, got all the good stuff just because he was a man. Their boss claimed he assigned Derrick because he was concerned about Daphne's safety. What a moron. That was not the case at all.

She rushed out of the educational building before her cameraman was ready. She stuck out like a sore thumb in this historical institute and knew it. The reporter's bright hair was only one sign that she craved attention, but nothing of this sort.

Once outside, Daphne settled down and was ready to hop into her blue Chrysler convertible for another of her after-shift bar adventures. To her dismay, her cameraman came out and told her the boss was calling.

After answering, her boss rambled about covering something that wasn't even a story to Daphne. She questioned it every step of the way. Some high school field trip? What for? To show everyone how New York is a tourist friendly location? Even if citizens show otherwise?

Daphne hung up with a moan echoing throughout the building. Boy had the boss hit rock bottom. Covering a bunch of teenagers vacationing in New York as part of a senior cruise was the ultimate proof of what he thought of her. Inside, Daphne wished that something bad would happen on this trip just so she could be there to catch the action.

* * *

"Okay, everyone! Line up! We're starting our weekend by checking out the night life of Times Square. Lucas, take a head count. Make sure everyone's here."

Mr. McCulloch shouted out his plans above the honking horns of city traffic. It seemed like he looked at his watch every five seconds. Some of the graduates grumbled, but eventually they all lined up in front of the strict teacher.

Lucas went to the head of the line with the report.

"Everyone's accounted for, except for Joanne Jowett and Wayne Hedden. One student said he saw them head out already."

An irritated frown crossed Mr. McCulloch's face. He shook his head at the rebellious teenagers. Couldn't anybody wait anymore? Why did they think there were rules?

He gave a slight smile at Rennie waiting behind Lucas with Sean and Joy. She was staring off away from the rest of them, trying to look interested in the cars going past. The girl had this constant personality of shyness, even around her uncle. Of course, Charles had no clue as to what she just went through.

"Thanks, Lucas," he turned back to the class president. "I'm sure we'll find them as we explore the square. Let's get going. We were supposed to be at Times Square 7 minutes ago."

Rennie moved in surprise when a male voice spoke next to her.

"Hey, Rennie. You ready to see a statue I heard about? It's supposed to be 22 stories tall."

Rennie saw Sean's smiling face looking at her. The boy was cute, she had to admit, however Rennie could not just start a relationship with someone. It was because of more than her being reserved. And she had not confided in any of those shrinks what it was.

Rennie didn't know whether to be annoyed or relieved when her uncle interrupted.

"We don't visit the Statue of Liberty until the last day. You know that, Sean."

Sean did not respond except with a, "Yes, sir", and left it at that. He continued to stay near Rennie, and the Wickham girl was too nice to tell him otherwise.

The group set off after Mr. McCulloch: voices chattering and cameras flashing the whole way. When the signs of Times Square grew larger, the graduates' excitement grew with them. The magnificent Coca Cola sign was beaming its red and white flashiness on the horizon. The teenagers shouting overpowered any talking among the New Yorkers staring at them.

"Tourists," they all muttered to one another.

While walking, Sean now turned to Joy, hoping he could take the edge off her awkwardness.

"So, Mr. McCulloch was pretty stern with you, huh? He must still be upset about the incident on the Lazarus. Don't worry. He may look tough, but he cares. That's the main reason why he talked to you."

Joy nodded, maintaining quietness on her slender face.

She let Sean's words in, while at the same time reflecting on what happened with Rennie and blocking the visions that made her an outcast all at the same time. If Joy had let the visions do their work, she would have known Jason's next victim in New York.

* * *

The Chrysler Building stood proudly at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Gwyn Charlene gazed up in awe at the Art Deco skyscraper with its beautiful, ornamented crown. It was so tall that she had to step back quite a ways to see the very top.

After snapping some pictures, Gwyn thought about exploring the inside, though figured it best to wait until she found Maureen. A tinge of frustration nibbled at her for she had walked all the way here with no sign of her friend.

Despite this, Gwyn felt such joy upon viewing this building. The Chrysler Building was a symbol of the work behind the luxuriousness of cars. And the Charlene girl had a dream of selling the finest of automobiles to the finest of society. With her multi-layered, naturally highlighted, blonde hair catching the eye of any wealthy man, she would sell her way to the very top and buy herself more cars than she could count.

Was arrogance inching its way from the skyscraper and planting itself upon her? Gwyn denied it; however, without Maureen telling her that more important things could be bought than cars, she couldn't stop the urge.

While moving closer to the steel-supported building, Gwyn heard footsteps moving with her. She believed another arrival had come to view the Chrysler with her. Upon turning around, though, she saw nobody. She frowned in confusion and turned back around.

A gigantic form grabbed her and clutched like vices around her dress. It pulled her kicking body to another side of the building where the few passers-by couldn't see. Gwyn could only scream one, "Stop!" before the man covered her mouth with a hand that reeked of death.

He hoisted her until her face was aimed straight at the Chrysler Building's brick side. Her eyes dilated into blue souls of terror. She frantically shook her head in weak resistance. Gwyn felt her face rushing before a loud crack covered the air. The powerful figure had smacked her body against the skyscraper. Her bones shattered as easily as glass shards.

Blood spurted from her body and started to paint the building red. The evil shape drew her back and struck her against the side a second time: this one even more forceful. A stronger ear-splitting crack pierced the air. Blood soaked her everywhere before she was thrown down like nothing. Everything about her was now a deep crimson color.

If Gwyn was still alive, she would have seen a now stained hockey mask staring down at her, regarding her as a worthless entity. The evil had no interest in the historic building next to it: only that the skyscraper had been a convenient tool in the killing of another human.


	11. Bashed Dreams

New York was known for its hurriedness when it came to work, from the most professional of careers to the most menial of jobs. Everyone was constantly running to the next task without stopping to smell the fresh air. Then again, places like Manhattan didn't have the most ideal air. It was usually clouded with city smog and traffic fumes.

The business extended to the Chrysler Building as well. City life went on as usual even with the bashing death of Gwyn Charlene. There was no sense from the bustling residents that anything was awry.

A worker at the Chrysler exited the building from the back. He was a mere custodian, where his name, Arnie Hughes, would not ring among the building's halls. Being at the bottom, in a business sense, had its share of problems, including nobody appreciating your work.

But maybe a future event would bring about a change to that. Arnie walked down an alley with a garbage bag in hand. The bag rustled with unappreciated leftovers from the higher-class that Arnie had to clean up after. The contents reminded the custodian a bit of himself.

He came upon the dumpster on one side of the building. His nose was immune to the smell of garbage, however Arnie picked up the most retching scent. The custodian's curiosity kept him from simply throwing the bag in and taking off.

Once his bag was buried with the rest, Arnie scanned the inside of the dumpster. His eyes froze on fingers reaching out of the trash for him. Dread took hold of his throat, but, with a trembling hand, he pushed away the surrounding garbage. Fingers gave way to a hand, a hand gave way to an arm, and then…

Arnie felt his whole body go just as rigid as the arm poking out. He saw a girl's head staring back at him with blank eyes. Her features were just noticeable among the dried up blood. The skull was slightly seen as the teenager's head was cracked from some kind of severe beating.

"Oh Hell!" Arnie burst out finally.

He nearly toppled over onto his back while stumbling away. Despite the horror, he couldn't take his eyes away. Her fingers were still pointed at him, as if giving an accusatory message. A wisp of wind fluttered strands of her once beautiful blonde hair.

Arnie slapped his head away from the sight and ran. He sped like he was fleeing for his life. And in a way, he was. Whoever killed that girl could be in the dark waiting for him. He escaped from the lurking shadows and back into the building.

Unknown to Arnie, the corpse had a name of Gwyn Charlene. Her mouth just barely open, Gwyn continued to stare lifelessly after the custodian. Her place in the dumpster matched the view of her killer: just another piece of human garbage.

* * *

The graduates in Times Square were even more unaware that one of their classmates had fallen. The reason was that their minds were busily absorbing the fresh sights of New York. Every teenager of Mr. McCulloch's group was swarming about the crowds, ignoring their teacher's pleas for some kind of structure.

They all took pictures, but nowhere near as many as Phoebe Hayes. Every billboard, every building, did not escape the focus of her camera lens. Phoebe was the clear photographer of the school, and her passion would bring back countless photo memoirs of the class trip. The bright lights spun around her as she turned and snapped a picture without thinking.

That was the way Phoebe was. She believed the most random shots were always the most interesting ones. The girl lowered the camera from her glasses to see who had been in the view.

That new girl, Joy, actually looked shocked that Phoebe had taken her picture. She slipped quickly behind Rennie and looked the other way. Sean Robertson was near them, motioning to Phoebe that they didn't want to be bothered. Phoebe shrugged, but smiled. That Sean. Always standing up for the shy people.

Instead, Phoebe walked away to focus her camera on some New Yorkers waiting at the bus stop. She made sure they noticed her _I Love New York_ shirt as she drew closer.

Joy swept her gaze over the business of Times Square. Familiar with the city or not, she had to keep a source of comfort by her side, and Rennie was going to be it for awhile. Rennie, herself, read Joy's uneasiness and empathized with the feeling. It was natural for Rennie to feel that way because she had never been to New York, but she couldn't quite get the reason behind Joy's discomfort. However, Rennie knew it was clearly a negativity of more serious proportions.

Mr. McCulloch shouted above the graduates yet again to make himself heard. His voice already sounded evidently strained. He was asking for everyone to move further down the sidewalk so the group wasn't blocking the pedestrian traffic.

"Come on, Rennie," Sean said gently. "We don't want to get left behind."

Slightly nodding, she began to follow him after the others. Joy was about to do the same, when a quick glance caught her attention. Across the street from the group, standing underneath the famous Coca Cola sign, was an image of horror.

How could the New Yorkers walking past be so calm? After all, they were moving beside the embodiment of Jason Voorhees. The killer stood with his slowly sweeping gaze away from Joy. The fact that he didn't seem interested in the pedestrians proved one thing. Jason was searching for _her._

Just as he was about to spot her, Joy dashed into the nearest building. Some of the people she had to push through gawked at her gasping form. It wouldn't have been a surprise to see Joy's whole body pound with her heartbeat.

Most of the graduates had left the corner already, but luckily, the sympathetic Rennie was one still close by. She called after Joy and ran to find her: more worried about her than the danger that had just disappeared around the soda sign.

"Rennie!" Sean shouted to the girl.

However Sean's friend, Miles, gently tugged on his sleeve, assuring him not to fret. Sean sighed and reluctantly followed the group with Miles. Maybe his buddy was right. Maybe it was best not to follow Rennie around like she couldn't take care of herself.

The teenagers left Rennie to enter the McDonald's restaurant where Joy had gone.

* * *

J.J. and Wayne's taxi stopped at a night club not too far from Mr. McCulloch's group. As they stepped out of the cab, they were surrounded by the blasting music of New York's younger crowd. Many partygoers bustled about to get inside the club. Most were already dancing before they went in.

Wayne looked up at the club's flashing neon sign, which reflected in his thick glasses, almost blinding him. He drew back a bit at this party atmosphere. But this was paradise for J. J. She moved about to the music, while having to drag Wayne into the club.

"Come on, Wayne," she told him excitedly. "I have yet to get you to stop being a dweeb, and now's the time."

Once inside, the song pounded Wayne's eardrums even more. J.J. continued to pull him through the dancing crowd of teenagers. Most of them stared through the bright reds, greens, and blues at Wayne's yellow shirt. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly in fashion.

J.J. stopped by the bar to shout out her happiness. At the same time, Wayne had to sit down because he was that overwhelmed. He sensed the vibes of the drinkers at the bar that he didn't fit into this scene.

"You know what's cool about this club," J.J. yelled, quite easily despite the music and voices around them. "It has a power room in back. We can get supreme concert hall echo. Want to shoot a tape of me back there?"

Wayne clutched his camera that he took everywhere. As an aspiring film maker, he had to make sure every promising event in life was caught in his camera. Right now, in this unfamiliar and hostile environment to his senses, the camera was his source of consolation.

He had to push his normally soft voice to a higher volume when he responded to J.J.

"Uh, I would. But I need some shockumentary footage first."

J.J. gave him a look that was none too pleased. At the same time, she was leaning on the bar and inching her way toward the power room. She slapped high fives with a couple nearby as if she had known them forever. But that was the way J.J. was. Quite outgoing and not too patient with Wayne's more reserved demeanor, even if they had known each other since elementary school.

"You're going to scam on Tamara again, aren't you?" she said very assuredly. "I don't know how many times I've told you that she's a user."

J.J. gave a sigh that signaled defeat in helping Wayne.

"Fine. I guess I can't stop you in doing what you want. But I'm going to that power room. With or without you."

Wayne took that as a sign that he could go. He would take any reason to get out of this barrage of deafening music and blinding lights. He stood up from the bar stool.

"Okay. I'll see you later, all right? I'm going back to the group."

Wayne disappeared towards the door before J.J. could reply. She shook her head at him. At least she had tried. Guitar in hand, she headed for the power room entrance.

* * *

Joy sat nervously at one of the McDonald's dining tables, her body turned as far away from the window as she could go. She clenched and unclenched her hands until her fingers left deep marks in her skin. Every time the door opened, the girl jumped in her seat, while preparing to see Jason come over and destroy her.

So when Rennie came in, Joy let forth a terrified noise from her throat. It easily caught the attention of nearby diners, who shook their heads at the trembling teenager. But Joy ignored them. She was used to people staring at her like she was from another world.

Rennie waved at Joy and shyly passed through the crowded restaurant on her way to her friend. She took a seat across from the Sylvia girl, giving her a comforting smile. She remained patient, even if Joy kept glancing toward the window and then careening away, as if expecting someone to crash through the glass and grab her.

"Hey, Joy," Rennie greeted her, while a little uncertain of what to say. "Is everything okay?"

Joy finally acknowledged that Rennie was there and so seemed to calm down a bit. She faced her friend, trying to return Rennie's smile. Lying to the only graduate she felt comfortable with seemed so sinful, but at the same time, Joy did not want to involve Rennie in the fear she felt.

"Yes," she fought not to stutter. "I thought I saw a mugger, but it turned out to be a false alarm. I'm okay."

For awhile, the two girls were quiet as Rennie took in what Joy had said. Though the girl attempted not to worry Rennie with her anxiety, the observant Wickham teenager still read that flicker of dread in Joy's sapphire eyes. She soaked up that feeling into her being as well, like the two were conjoined twins.

"Is it okay if I see my parents?" Joy asked. "I mean, I want to see how they're doing."

Rennie understood Joy's concern and so nodded in reply.

"Sure. I know what it's like to miss your parents. Go ahead."

Joy noticed her suddenly appear still, her face becoming melancholy and reminiscing. Something had struck a chord of sadness in Rennie, and Joy felt like she had to chase that away.

"You can come with me if you like," she offered. "My sister and them would be happy to meet you."

Rennie blinked once and then looked to have snapped out of her state. She stood up the same time as Joy. She thought about what her Uncle Charles would say, but then again, he wanted her to have friends and be normal. At least, Rennie hoped so.

"That would be nice," she said in response to Joy's offer.

They went back to the door to find Sean and Toby on the other side. Rennie opened the handle and waved at the dog, who was rather calm despite the hustle and bustle of the city moving past him.

"What's up, you two?" Sean greeted the girls in his usual easygoing manner. "Toby ran after you, so I followed him to make sure nothing happened to him."

Joy petted the Border collie, feeling such warmth from the dog. She loved animals. Not once had any animal cast judgment upon her and made her feel unwelcome. The same could not be said for people.

"Joy and I were just going to her parents' house," Rennie told Sean. "She hasn't seen them for awhile, so she really misses them."

After a bit of coaxing from the Robertson boy, Joy agreed that he could come too. He seemed like a trustworthy person. And she needed all the friends she could get, especially with the evil following her.

_No_, Joy told herself. _Stop thinking about that. It was just a hallucination. There's no way he can be in New York. _

She kept reminding herself of that as they rode in a taxi to the part of Manhattan where her family lived. But Joy's eyes could not stop searching the night life for that monster she had escaped from. Denial continually clashed with her visions. She felt them tearing at each other deep inside her. In the end, one of them would have to win. For New York's sake, hopefully it would be the right one.

* * *

J. J. entered the power room of this most exquisite night club. She climbed down the steel stairs and looked about the room of music switchboards and other equipment. This was quite fancier than she had thought. It must have been one of the rooms where rising rock stars practiced, and J.J. hoped to be one of them. It wouldn't be long before she planned to become more than a Joan Jett wannabe.

She turned on one of the switches and watched the neon lights flicker about the walls. Every step she made echoed throughout the room, including her punk rock voice.

"Oh man, this place is aching for a video. Wayne, you're an asshole."

She plugged her guitar into the sound system and stood in the center of the room, while imagining that she was addressing a pumped up audience. Flipping back her dark hair, she played a few wild notes on her instrument to tune it up.

"Are you guys ready?" J.J. shouted at her imaginary viewers.

She chose a tape from the collection of music before her. Soon, hard rock filled the room, seeming to shake the supposedly sound proof walls. J.J. became lost in her own world, which packed a thunderous melody. Everything around her was nonexistent.

So J.J. did not detect the presence that entered the room through a back door. The sounds of Jason stomping towards her were drowned out in the music. His lifeless stare collided with the girl's lively playing of her guitar. There was so much life in this rocker, and he wanted to see it all leave her with the shedding of her blood.

J.J. finally spotted the cold behemoth and let out a piercing scream. Dropping her guitar, she prepared to run, but Jason quickly gripped the teenager by her leather jacket. J.J. clawed so hard at him that she actually tore off slivers of his decaying skin. Jason calmly took her futile attempts at escape.

Then he threw her straight at the sound system behind her. J.J's back forcefully met the equipment and a high voltage of electricity. The current went haywire, shocking her body until it started convulsing, and sending up sparks around her. J.J. managed to kick herself off the stereo before most of her nerves became numb.

Collapsing on the hard floor a few feet away, she hardly felt any pain. And the electricity had paralyzed her, making her unable to avoid whatever Jason had in mind. She could only dart her eyes to watch his towering form yank her guitar out of its plug.

All J.J's dreams of becoming a famous music artist were now a distant memory, lost among the dancing lights. Not one stage would ever see this Lakeview graduate upon it, leading her fans into an uproar while making her own impact in the world of rock 'n' roll.

Jason Voorhees was known for shattering the futures of humans and ending their potentials in a bloody way. His callous disregard for this existed as one part of his monstrous being. When he raised that guitar, all that mattered was erasing another person off the planet: one of many that he knew would degrade him if he was still part of their kind.

He smashed the instrument into her skull, watching the blood and life leave her at the same time. All J.J. had seen was brightness, redness, then nothing in just a few seconds. Her once spunky eyes became blank circles of death. The music continued to play around her, but would forever go unheeded by the former Joanne Jowett.


	12. Joyful Reunion

**As always, I apologize for the delay in updating. I guess I've been too focused on my Vengeance story and not enough on the others. **

**Hopefully, my life is getting a little happier, so that should help. **

**Don't mind me. Concentrate on enjoying the chapter(:**

The Sylvia home was located in a Manhattan suburbia that was in close proximity to Times Square. The flashing city lights surrounded the entire neighborhood, creating a luster that never went away. Processing the clamor and light was an internal habit for the suburban residents.

The cab containing Joy, Rennie, and Sean turned onto the street which passed houses too numerous to count. Rennie still could not believe how, even away from downtown, there were so many people in one place. At night, the illumination of neon allowed citizens to walk their dogs or simply stand outside, chatting, at all hours. Eventually, the houses did get farther in between.

This was where the cab screeched to a halt in front of the home Joy missed so dearly.

Glancing out the taxi window, she had to admit that she was glad to be here. And her budding friends would certainly help ease any tension her family was feeling towards her.

While she and Rennie stepped out, Sean insisted on paying the fare. When Rennie gave a puzzled look, he explained that he possessed money that Tamara gave him. Both Joy and Rennie then gaped slightly at him for accepting money from their tormentor. As the cab drove away, he shook his head at them, showing that it wasn't what they thought. No way would Sean do anything for Tamara Mason, unless it benefited someone more deserving.

"She gave it to me to bribe me into staying at the Four Seasons with the rest of those high class teens. Who knows why, but probably to set me up with somebody there. So I took the money and decided to use it for a good purpose, like hanging out with you guys."

Joy walked ahead of them, her feet making eager footsteps on the cement. Rennie was close behind. She stopped once to ask Sean a rather worried question without actually sounding that way.

"You're not going to accept her offer, are you?"

Sean gave a reassuring smile. He hid the fact that he was relieved Rennie didn't want him taking the side against her. Almost every one of those arrogant teenagers had teased Rennie Wickham at some point in school.

"Of course not," he told her. "I'm in your group, and I'm staying where I belong."

Rennie smiled back at him, then her shyness crept up, and she hurried to the porch where Joy was. The Sylvia girl looked frozen, her enthusiasm not so sure now. She glanced at Rennie, back at Sean, and last at Toby, who was barking at all the new forms around him.

"It's okay," Rennie tried her hardest to assure her.

Though it wasn't one of her strengths to convince people, she attempted anyway.

"They're your parents. Despite any upset feelings, they'll be happy to see you."

Rennie at least knew that statement well. When her parents had been alive, they had always been patient, never ceasing to show their unconditional love. It hadn't mattered what the circumstances had been.

Joy raised her hand to the door, paused once again, then slowly knocked upon it. Those few knocks echoed loudly in her ears. The frenzied yapping of a small dog instantly responded. Scratching was also heard at the bottom of the door.

Toby barked to show his excitement as well, though was obedient enough to stop when Rennie hushed him. The other dog continued even when a stern voice spoke to it.

"Martika, hush! It's fine! Move it, fluff ball!"

The door opened, revealing a young girl who was trying to smile and keep the dog away at the same time. Her stature was quite shorter than that of the three looking back at her. Rennie guessed she was about 12 or 13.

"Hello! Can I help you?"

The girl locked on Sean first, either because he was closer or her instincts had told her to. Her bright smile beamed even more when she finally noticed Joy.

"Joy? Oh my gosh, is that you?"

In a flash of a second, she was next to Joy, hugging her tightly. Rennie and Sean stepped away in unison to give her room. Part of them was expecting that reaction from the girl, and another part was not.

Any hesitation from Joy had flown off her. She returned the girl's smile and embraced her back. Arms were locked for awhile before Joy pulled away to acknowledge her two friends.

"This is Faith, my younger sister," she told Sean and Rennie.

It was clear that Faith had an outgoing personality. She first ran up to Rennie, then Sean, saying hello very excitedly. Rennie became a little bashful, lowering her head just a bit. Meeting new people wasn't a strong skill of hers. Sean understood this and introduced the both of them to Faith.

"I'm Sean Robertson, and this is Rennie Wickham. Nice to meet you."

Adding last names to introductions may have seemed a bit odd, but it was something that Sean's father had instilled in him.

Faith focused on Sean a second time.

"You're cute," she said flirtatiously.

"Faith!" Joy responded right away. "What is wrong with you?"

She turned to the two and spoke in an apologetic manner.

"Sorry. My sister's too openly honest for her age."

The voice of a woman at the door halted Faith's reaction.

* * *

The next moments were a bit of a blur for Rennie, a whirlwind of excitement and joy. It was hard to process for a mind like hers that liked to take things gradually. She went through it all with a warm smile, letting herself being swept along with the love abounding in Joy seeing her parents.

She felt herself literally dragged into the house by Faith, who obviously had no qualms about contact with newcomers. The quiet Rennie took it all in stride by keeping Toby and Sean close by her. She became part of another, even more exciting, introduction process.

During all the chattering, Rennie appreciated her assumptions leading Joy to the right answer. There was not one bit of anger among Joy's parents, nor her sister, at her long absence. They were all reunited at last, and that was all that mattered.

"Rennie," Sean's clear voice ended the stimulation for the teenager.

Her mind seemed to wake itself up. Rennie remembered that Joy's family had invited them for dinner, resulting in her position at the dining table. She turned her head to Sean sitting at her left. His calming smile looked back.

"Mrs. Sylvia was asking what your plans are for college."

"Oh, yes," Rennie replied, feeling a bit silly at herself for spacing out.

Nobody indicated that they minded this, though. Mrs. Sylvia had this hospitable personality that Rennie felt from across the table. It reminded her so much of Ms. Van Duesen. The mother's bright hair and eyes of blue were a replica of Joy, who had taken a seat on the other side of Rennie.

Joy herself was smiling, clearly amiable about being home. Her head was slightly down for some reason, as she stirred her potatoes and ignored Martika scratching at the chair.

"Well, my uncle is certain I can get into any college that I want," Rennie said, now confident. "I have a passion for writing, so I'm looking at majoring in English, or something similar."

Mr. Sylvia put forth his part in the conversation.

"Writing is a great way to express your thoughts in ways nothing else can. I'm sure you'll do fine. You have your whole life ahead of you."

He turned his eyes to Joy, flashing a bit of discontent at her long hair falling towards her plate. He decided to let that go. He hadn't seen his daughter in, what was it, months? Now that it had become calmer, Mr. Sylvia wondered where on earth Joy had been.

The girl met her father's gaze, not knowing how lucky she was when a buzzing sound filled the room. The ever alert Martika yapped out her opinion on this interruption. Toby was resting soundly at Rennie's feet and couldn't care less.

Now it was Sean's turn to feel embarrassed. He took what looked to be a walkie-talkie out of his pocket. With a quick hand, he silenced the buzzing.

Faith, sitting next to Sean obviously, gave a wondering look.

"What is that?"

Sean explained, his tone of voice showing disappointment. Rennie sensed that Sean's father had signaled him, and she was right.

"It's my dad," Sean told everyone. "He's at the Lazarus and wants me to help with maintenance."

Faith's child face frowned in confusion. She spoke once again before the others.

"The Lazarus? What's a Lazarus?"

"The ship Rennie and Sean came to New York on, honey," Mrs. Sylvia answered. "Remember?"

The Sylvia family had talked a lot to their guests, getting to know them, and Faith was the one who never focused on the details. It was just another part of the thirteen-year-old's character.

"Yes," Sean said hurriedly. "When I'm supposed to be done having fun, he wants me to help him. You know, do some work."

"So you have to _leave_?" Faith clearly emphasized her frustration.

Rennie stayed silent. Not just because she wasn't surprised; she knew the way Admiral Robertson was, but she was wary about expressing her feelings on Sean leaving. No, can't be too attached, even if Rennie wanted to.

"I'm afraid so. Thank you so much for inviting me. I enjoyed meeting you all."

Once Sean had left, with Mr. Sylvia escorting him back, the evening became considerably quieter. Not that there wasn't any more conversation. The key point was that, after Faith rambled on to Joy about what she had been doing, she asked the same of her sister.

But Joy was not about to speak of it. Her hand stiffened on Martika's head, while the dog felt her anxiety and licked at her bracelet. For the first time in an eternity, Joy glared at Faith. It was a softer one, though a glare all the same.

"It doesn't matter. I'm home now. Can't that be enough?"

Faith was struck with confusion. She knelt back in her chair, her soft eyes almost twitching.

"Sorry, Joy. I was just wondering. I mean, I'm sure you've done a lot since I last saw you."

Joy's glare ceased. One of her traits was not to stay angry at anybody, despite the horrific encounters that had caused her uneasiness. She sighed, while noticing Rennie a bit mystified as well.

"It's okay. I just endured a lot."

Joy had a heart that wanted to protect all of them. She herself had not dealt with those visions of doom for quite awhile. As long as their absence lasted, everything would be fine. No more thoughts of a murderer would shock her brain.

It wasn't difficult to spare them her memories of the monster, and just…move…on. At least she prayed ceaselessly that she was right.

* * *

Wayne waited without complaint at another sea of traffic before him. He took the opportunity to lean out the cab window, recording New York City's night life. The cab driver could tell that this teenager was a tourist. He shook his scruffy head in the rearview mirror.

"Where did you say you were going, boy?" he asked, a little impatiently.

Engrossed in his recording, Wayne almost forgot the driver's presence. He finally sat back down in his seat.

"The Four Seasons Hotel, sir."

The driver moved forward as much as traffic allowed. The continuous honking of car horns was utterly annoying. He could have lived here all his life, and that wouldn't stop him from disliking these sounds of frustrated citizens.

"You don't say," he said with a grin. "I wouldn't picture a boy like you staying there."

Wayne became somewhat insulted inside. He would have felt more if he wasn't used to comments similar to this one. Being withdrawn as he was, he couldn't talk back if he wanted to.

"I know. But I'm on a senior class trip, and some of my class is staying there. I happen to be one of them fortunately."

Wayne remained still the rest of the ride. He appeared busy thinking about what he was going to do after arriving there. After all, nobody was going to expect him at that hotel.

A few minutes later, the Four Seasons majestically rose up into view. Wayne sucked in a deep breath. The building itself was beautiful, yet intimidating for a guy like him. Still, it did not match those particular features of Tamara Mason.

After paying his fare, Wayne climbed out of the cab, camera hugged under one arm. Beads of sweat dripped down his face and landed on his glasses.

He tried to suppress this reaction. Quickly wiping his face, he continued onward.

Along the way, he noticed a woman talking quite loudly to a man holding a camera. Wayne figured the camera wasn't on yet, and she was just hammering him over something he had done wrong. Her red hair bounced upon her shoulders.

He was good at recognizing such events. More than once, one of his classmates had scolded him over not getting the shots right, as if Wayne didn't know what he was doing. _They_ weren't the ones who had been studying hard for film school.

Wayne shrugged the thoughts off nonchalantly, acting like someone was watching. Nobody was. The New Yorkers passed him without caring if he was there.

He headed straight for the hotel's glass paneled door, disappearing inside.

Sadly for him, bravery was not about to pay off for Wayne Hedden.


	13. Author's Note

**Hello, my loyal fans! **

**I know it's been awhile since I did anything with this story. It seems that I've been more in the mood to write my Vengeance for the Innocent one. Perhaps it's because that one's more popular, more original, or for another reason. I'm not sure.**

**Anyway, looking over my Manhattan story, I've been debating whether to redo it. There are just some things that I want to take out, and the only way to do that is to start over with those concepts omitted.**

** One such thing is the whole psychic connection with Rennie and Jason, and, in my case, the one with Joy and Jason as well. I think that supernatural element was done well enough in Part 7, and we don't need it again. Plus, there's another storyline that I think might be better than the whole class trip plot. Don't worry; the story will still be a Jason Actually Takes Manhattan one.**

**So, I will leave this note up for a decent amount of time. Feel free to let me know if you're happy with the story already up so far or believe that I can write a better one. If I don't hear anything, I'll assume that you are fine either way. I will then go ahead with my idea of redoing my Manhattan story.**

**My ultimate goal is to make my fellow Friday the 13th fans happy. I will check back to see if anyone left their thoughts on what they would like me to do. Like I said, if there's no real response, I will delete this current version and start over.**


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